


Reverse Nostalgia

by 3_idiots



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: A Billy & Max bonding fic, Attempt at Humor, Bad 80s references, Banter, Billy & Max are from 2018, For a second, Humor, M/M, Modern AU, More Secret Labs, Overuse of italics, Time Travel, Yelling, with a HEAVY side dish of harringrove
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-29
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2019-12-26 01:46:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 21,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18273287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/3_idiots/pseuds/3_idiots
Summary: After Billy runs away from home, with his step-sister Max as an inadvertent road trip buddy they're thrown out of the year 2018 and into 1985.Stranded and confused, at each other's throats and Google-less they have only one place to go to find answers:Hawkins, Indiana.





	1. Don't Speed Kids

**Author's Note:**

> Hi I'm a child sorry in advance for my bad description of the 80s!
> 
> BIG THANKS to dariary_absentee who beta read this!! REALLY awesome person

Billy was vibrating. His hands forced to tremble against the gearshift, exhaust-filled rumbles making the chassis of his car shake. 

The Killers--because let’s  _ face it,  _ he’s a cliche--gets interrupted as Google maps tells him to turn in 2.5 miles  _ Sunny-Days Rest Stop. _ Billy could just _ ,  _ kinda see it in the distance. One spot that isn’t endless cornfields or just… dead grass. 

Kansas had lost its charm the moment Billy crossed the border into Colorado. (He was going east, by the way.)

Fingers drumming along to obscure whiney lyrics and catchy guitar riffs, Billy shoved his tongue in his cheek to avoid doing more than humming along. 

He, of course, failed. 

_ “Gimme a shot at the night! Gimme a moment…”  _ and he blanked, “S’me kin’a myster..s.” 

But Billy picked it back up at the bridge, with only a few pitchy  _ ‘oohs,’  _ continuously pushing his aviators back up his nose from shaking his head around. 

He managed to make it about twenty seconds into the next song before he got to turn the steering wheel for the first time in like…  _ five hours.  _ The ‘rest stop’ was basically a gas station with a metal picnic table out front. But, once again,  _ something new-ish. _

And because he was on a dried-up, hasn’t-seen-another-car-in-hours back road (and because he was, simply, petty) he didn’t bother with the turn signal. The left one acts up sometimes anyway. 

After pulling up to one of the four gas pumps--about as far as he could get from that  _ ugly  _ Mazda, it looked like a demonic bug  _ smiling  _ at him--Billy took a minute to rest his head on the steering wheel of his beloved Camaro (ignoring the way his sunglasses got crammed against the bridge of his nose). 

His sleek, blue, and beautiful baby... before he crossed into Nevada and it became a dust bunny with headlights, which he’d already added about 1500 miles to because he was in actual purgatory. 

Billy side-eyed the tiny convenience store and the faded, garish posters on the windows, some creep-o cartoon sun with a gap-toothed smile and sunglasses pointing at the specials.

At least purgatory had half-price corn dogs. 

Billy flexed his fingers, biting at his lip as he keyed off the ignition. Once the car was quiet, he could hear the sharp, almost constant  _ ping  _ coming from his phone. He rubbed his hands all along the buzzed back of his head, his hand needing something to do. He wasn’t gonna be able to have a smoke for at least 20 minutes, not with his dad  _ right there  _ staring at the numbers on his own gas pump as if he could glare the price lower. 

Billy’s phone kept pinging. He looked at the screen, and under the  _ Kings of Leon  _ album cover went as follows: 

_ Little Shit _

_ [hey can I sit in ur car] _

_ Little Shit _

_ [hey] _

_ Little Shit  _

_ [hEY] _

7+ messages from  _ Little Shit _

Billy was just swiping them away, one by one, when there was a banging on his window. 

“HEY!” the annoyance was clear, if muffled by the glass. 

Billy whipped his head around to see a peeved little Max huffing and puffing on the other side. And just to be an ass he  _ slowly  _ rolled down the window. The cool, air-conditioned interior of his car was quickly ruined by the arid summer heat around them. 

Billy sighed. 

“What?” Billy was always trying to put as much apathy as he can get into a one-word sentence. 

“Let me in your  _ car,  _ the van smells like fucking salt and vinegar,” Max sneered at him. She was in jean shorts and a purple hoodie. And hating absolutely everything about this road-trip almost as much as Billy did. 

Going  _ 2,000 fucking miles  _ right before July 4th. Just--what even needs to be said? 

“Middle schoolers swearing is so cringy you shit head,” he said, still comfortably seated in his locked car. He rolled up the window a little bit. 

“And do I look like I  _ gawd-damn  _ care?” Max said. She seemed unhappy. 

Billy couldn’t fathom  _ why _ …

He gave her his best  _ pretty-airhead  _ face. 

It fell flat against her own vengeful freckles. 

Billy rolled his eyes, unplugged the aux cord from his phone, gradually turned _ , slowly _ unbuckled his seatbelt, then all he had to do was snag the handle to unlock the door before Max was swinging it open. 

“Dude--!” Billy started, watching his step-sister nosedive for the back seat, “Why can’t you sit  _ outside?”  _ Throwing his arm out in the direction of the picnic table  _ right in front of the store.  _

The only reason Max hadn’t gotten her butt stuck between Billy’s seat and the doorway was because she was a skinny-ass kid. All elbows. Billy'd know. Considering whenever they were forced to sit within two feet of each other they were jabbing into the few soft-bits he had. 

“‘Cuz those benches are  _ hot _ ,” Max explained as she wriggled around--throwing knees into his poor, poor upholstery--, situated herself behind the passenger's side seat, legs splayed out and puffing red hair out of her face. 

“Don’t fuckin’  _ spill  _ anything,” Billy growled as he watched Max pull like four KitKats and Coke out of her hoodie-pouch. 

She only stuck her tongue out at him. 

“ _ Original,”  _ Billy muttered, pocketing his phone and wallet before pulling himself up out of the car. Which he instantly regretted. Because even with the door wide open it was cooler inside the car. 

And less fuckin’ judgie. 

Neil’s eyes bored into the side of his face as Billy walked back to the gas pump. 

His eyes shifted to Max in the back of the car. “Is a window open?” He called. Because Billy could never just have a  _ moment.  _

“S’not like she’s a dog,” Billy said, “But yes, doors even  _ unlock  _ from the inside.” 

“Billy.” 

Billy pushed up his sunglasses into his hair, pulling his wallet out of the back pocket of his jeans and tapping away at the screen. He let the pump successfully drain away from his debit card before responding.

_ “Pawh,”  _ he drawled, slipping his card away and focusing on the gas pump. Flipping open the fuel cap, going through the motions with  _ great  _ concentration. 

“Susan got directions to a diner about 45 minutes up the road,” Neil said. Billy was looking around the gas pump at the  _ Marlboro  _ poster and biting his lip. He was already sweating through his shirt in this heat. He was also staring at the  _ ‘Slushies!! $1.25!!’  _ sign. 

“Isn’t that just peachy,” Billy said, “You’ll have a fun ol’ time.” 

There was silence at the numbers on Billy’s pump climbed. 

Off to the side, he heard the clicks of Neil putting up his own pump. He was in a sky-blue button up and khakis, looking like he was trying to pretend it wasn’t hot as  _ balls  _ out. All wrapped up with that stupid ‘70s cop ‘stache. 

“I mean that you should come with us,” Neil explained, slow, like Billy was a  _ child.  _

Billy’s smile was sharp when he shoved the gas pump back in its holster. 

_ 2 months,  _ Billy’s mind whispered.

“That’s just too bad, ‘cuz ya see I have plans,” Billy snapped the fuel cap shut, “I’m driving across the  _ entire fu--chn-- _ country.” 

“You’d be doing it with your family if you hadn’t brought that death-trap along.” 

Billy smiled. Possibly. His lips curled away from his teeth, that was as much detail as he could muster

“Oh, yeah,” Billy said, “All four of us in a van, hours on end. That wouldn’t end in homicide.” 

Neil was quiet. There weren't any other cars at the tiny station. Although one sped past them, leaving a small gust of wind in its wake. 

Billy rubbed at the sweaty undersides of his eyes under his sunglasses. 

Neil still wasn't talking. 

It'd be a blessing if Billy knew  _ why.  _

“You should sell it when we get to Hawkins,” Neil said. 

Billy stared at him, “Sell  _ what?”  _

“That piece a shit car, Billy. I'm not gonna let you speed around in something like that with your sister,” Neil explained. He was done with his gas. He was free to move around. 

Billy bit his lip. 

“She can take the bus.” 

“But she has her big brother now. Who's sensible enough to see an old rust bucket that isn't safe, sell it, and use the money on a newer car.” 

Billy hung the gas pump back up, closed the gas cap slowly. 

Almost unconsciously, he ran his hand along the dust-covered blue paint, seeing how she shined underneath.

“I'm not selling her.” 

“I only wish you'd sold it before we left California,” Neil  _ tsked.  _

Billy's mouth fell open, “What about  _ not  _ selling my car don't you understand?” 

“I'm not paying for a new one.” Neil shrugged. Like that had  _ anything  _ to do with what Billy was saying? 

“Good?” Billy leaned back against his car, “‘Cuz I don’t  _ need  _ one.” 

“Have you not been  _ listening  _ to me, Billy?” Neil hissed. He pinched the bridge of his nose, “You’re getting  _ rid  _ of that car. It’s better to sell it now then for scraps after you’ve veered it into a tree.” His hands lowered. Tensing against his sides. 

“You can just go fuck yourself if you think I’m selling  _ this  _ car,” Billy snapped. He’d blame temporary insanity later. If he remembered later. 

Neil tensed all over again. The thick air was suddenly gone, or at least, out of Billy’s reach. Sometimes Neil looked like steel rope to Billy, like something that never  _ should  _ bend, and when it did it’d  _ screech  _ and protest, echo through your ears. 

“What did you say to me?” Neil stepped forward. Billy noticed just  _ how  _ tiny the gas station was, “In  _ public?  _ Your sister’s  _ right there  _ and you talk like that?” 

Billy looked--just for half a second--at the car, he leaned against the side of it with his hip, through the window at Max sprawled out across the entire backseat.  _ Right there.  _

Right in front of what was about to happen. 

Neil stepped closer, His face already growing a bit red like it did, or more orange, honestly. 

And all Billy could think was  _ no.  _

_ No,  _ not in front of Max. 

And  _ no,  _ no, no,  _ no.  _ Billy was  _ not  _ gonna get pinned against a shitty old gas pump in the middle of fuckin’ nowhere.  He wasn’t about to have his ass beat miles and miles away from civilization. He wasn’t about to die. 

Billy was slamming the driver’s side door shut, turning over the ignition, rolling up the window and shoving his sunglasses down over his eyes before anything else registered. 

It was weirdly methodical until his other senses started to get the message. 

Mostly sounds though, all he saw was that  _ fucking  _ cracked road, dried like it hadn’t seen rain in twenty years. Surrounded by  _ dead grass.  _ There was only a vague imprint of lane-dividers.

But those sounds came into his head one by one, slapping against his window, shouting. That was Neil. Billy could kind of see spit flying onto the glass as he locked the doors. 

Then Max, behind him, yelling probably. She was a quiet kid but she had her screaming fits. His glasses were slipping, a couple of curls were in his eyes. 

The only things he  _ felt  _ were the reconditioned leather on the steering wheel in one hand, the sweat at his back from standing outside for more than a minute, the gas pedal easily falling beneath his foot. 

And the  _ click  _ of the gear shift. What a fucking  _ satisfying sound.  _

As soon as he was out of park, he was  _ off,  _ just barely missing an old, dust-covered sign with that creepy sun logo before fishtailing out onto the road. The tires screeched underneath them. 

“Yo, Max,” Billy shouted over the engine-- _ man,  _ how fast was he  _ going?-- _ ”Could’ja grab my phone outta my pocket and plug it in?

“WHAT THE FUCK BILLY!” was her only response. 

Which, understandable. He was going 50 and climbing.

Billy  _ cackled.  _

“What are you  _ doing  _ Billy!” Max yelled, “Where are we  _ going?”  _

“I’m not stopping until I get to a damn airport,” Billy finally broke out of the tunnel-vision he’d gotten, looking in the rearview mirror to see Max not in  _ any  _ seats, just gripping at the two front headrests. She looked more like a vampire than usual. His side mirror showed the tiny gas station getting  _ smaller and smaller.  _ He could also see himself. 

Grinning. 

He laughed again, captured by how wide his own eyes were. Shit, were they even blue, or just  _ black  _ with rush? 

He stared back out at the road. It looked a lot better when you were moving too fast to see what anything was. Off to the side, he saw Max climb into the passenger seat. 

_ “Billy!”  _

“W _ hat?”  _ Billy snapped. He’d been having a  _ moment.  _

“Where are you  _ going?”  _ Max stressed. Because, yeah, that was probably a question he should have answered. 

“I have no idea. A bit too far to spin around and go home, huh?” Billy heard Max’s seat belt click. He doesn’t have his on, does he? Well, fuck him, anyway. He couldn’t stop  _ laughing.  _

“I’m just getting as far from that piece of shit as I can, Maxie. You in? Maybe losing her fucking kid for a bit will be what gets Susan to leave him,” Billy was being a sarcastic ass here, but that could actually fuckin’ work. Possibly. “Probably not, though, she’s a dumb bitch.” 

“What?! You’re just gonna drive to  _ fuck  _ knows where?” 

_ “No.  _ Yes. Who  _ cares!  _ I don’t wanna  _ talk  _ right now, Maxine!” 

He wanted to  _ scream.  _ So he flicked the switch on the center console,  _ hot,  _ dry,  _ dead  _ air blew up into his nose and he  _ screamed.  _ Or howled, more like it. Max was the one screaming. 

“Let me out! _ ”  _ Max’s prepubescent-ness made her angry-voice into a bunch of screeches. 

“Nooope! You can  _ fuckin’ jump. _ ” 

Billy  _ shook  _ his head back and forth until the sunglasses fell off, clattering onto the dash and miraculously not flying out into the desert. They got goddamn annoying. 

“Billy!” 

Billy stopped listening. He did change gears, though, fumbled around with one hand to fish out his phone and plug it in. It took a bit with one hand and not being able to look at it for more than half a second, but he managed.  

“Compromise,” Billy said, “You shut up, you get to pick the song.” 

 

⏭⏮

 

They were just starting to see trees when Max spoke. 

Billy had enjoyed the silence, only vetoed her music when Marshmello got involved and Max swore that was a  _ mistake.  _

The sun seemed to have an inkling of setting behind them. And no sign of ugly Mazdas. 

And when Max  _ did  _ speak it was about the horrible little town they were moving to. 

“Do you know how freakin’ weird Hawkins is?” Max asked, her nose basically shoved into her phone, knees curled up onto the seats. She’d taken off her shoes because she actually  _ did  _ have a brain. It added more evidence to his theory that Max was adopted and Susan was a bottle redhead. 

“Never  _ been _ there, how would I know?” Billy asked, turning down his music a bit. 

“You mean you haven’t at least  _ googled  _ the place you’re going to be stuck in for a year?” 

“Two months.” 

“What?” 

“I’m 18 in two months and I’ll be driving down to Mexico or some shit if it kills me,” Billy said. 

He partially saw Max’s face doing that my-mouth-is-open-because-there-is-no-hope-for-you expression. Billy was really hoping for a bug to zip through the A/C vent right about then. 

“If? I think you mean  _ when.  _ But  _ anyway,  _ this town is fucked up I don’t know why we have to live there--”

“ _ You  _ have to live there--” 

“ _ Okay!  _ Why  _ I  _ have to live there when I’ll probably get abducted by aliens or some shit.” 

Well. That caught Billy’s attention. He cocked an eyebrow at her.

“Excuse me?” He was only polite when it involved a satire-based benefit. 

Max translated from whatever probably-Buzzfeed (because she’s  _ 13) _ article she was reading. 

“In the '80s there were like… lots of disappearances. One girl died and they  _ said  _ it was some chemical testing? But there were rumors there was never a body. And there was another dude but it wasn’t a  _ whole  _ body. And some hunters went missing and a  _ kid  _ but they found him--” 

“Okay, sure,” Billy cut her off, “that's fuckin’ weird but  _ why  _ should I care when it was half a century ago?” 

“It was  _ not  _ 50 years ago,” Max argued, “it was like 30.  _ At most.”  _ She never says  _ 'max’  _ it's honestly hysterical.

She continued with her Sci-Fi shit. Because why not just make Billy suffer, ya know? It gave Billy a large well of bad karma to pull from, thus excusing his assholery.

“And it  _ matters  _ because the old creepy lab building is still there. And it was like, government-issued.” 

“Okay, Max, I don't know where you've been, but the  _ 'government’  _ literally comes to a halt whenever someone insults them on Twitter, so they're not exactly busy doing freaky chemical experiments nowadays.” He tilted his head down to her level. 

She looked like she wanted to slap him. 

“That’s not the  _ point!”  _

“Do  _ enlighten  _ me, Maxine,” Billy  _ really  _ wanted to pull over and smoke. But he also  _ didn’t  _ want to be on the side of a deserted road hours from civilization where his father could run him over with his shitty Mazda. 

So he was stuck with Max’s bullshit. 

“Because there’s totally going to be like… creepy hazing rituals around that place you’ve gotta  _ see  _ that.” 

Billy laughed because that was  _ rich  _ on so many layers, “Hazing? What fuckin’ frat house are you joining? And even if there  _ were _ , the worst thing hanging around that place would be some mold.” 

“It’s still creepy!” Max said. And, apparently, waving her phone around made that a better point. 

“Fine!” Billy splayed his hands out on the steering wheel in surrender, “It’s creepy. Sweet. Then just  _ avoid  _ the old creepy lab,  _ wow so easy.”  _

“You’re an asshole.” 

“You’re saying this like it’s news.” 

Apart from a muted drum solo, it was blessedly quiet in Billy’s car for like… an  _ entire  _ 40 seconds. 

And then. Max had to  _ speak.  _

_ Again. _

“I want food,” she said, slumping further into her seat.

“You just had food.” 

“ _ Hours  _ ago.” She seemed to think Billy cared? It was freaky. 

“That was a single hour.” 

“You had your shit fit a little after 1:00, it’s 5:17.” 

“Well, shit. Sucks for you,” Billy shrugged. Max just  _ gaped  _ at him. 

“You didn’t even  _ have  _ food! Aren’t you hungry?” 

“I thrive off of spite.” 

“You  _ suck.”  _

“I try.” 

Max only acknowledged that with a  _ groan.  _

“We’ll get food in another state. What state are we even  _ in?”  _

“ _ Okay Google,  _ what state are we even  _ in?”  _ Max parroted into her phone. 

_ “You are in Merwin, Kansas,”  _ a creepy robotic voice responded. 

“We’re still in  _ fuckin’  _ Kansas?” Billy shouted, “Oh,  _ fuck me,  _ reference,  _ un _ - _ fuckin-tended.” _

“Calm down, Jesus Christ--”

“I prefer Bi--” 

“Shut  _ up _ ! And do you even know where you’re going?” Max asked. 

“Yeah,” Billy nodded, turning up the music a bit. “East.” 

“That’s not a real answer.” 

“Well, it’s what you’re getting,” Billy shrugged. 

Max opened her mouth. 

“You call me an asshole you might as well just go out the window for the  _ simple  _ sake of unoriginality.” 

Max shut her mouth with a  _ click.  _

The loud guitar riff that was the end of  _ Neon Brother  _ sounded weird at a soft volume, so Billy turned it up even more. His fingers drummed along the steering wheel and Max shoved all of her attention back into her phone screen. It was almost perfect. 

 

⏭⏮

 

2 hours later and according to Google, in Ionia, Missouri, Billy’s life went completely down the shitter. 

It was a split second  _ whop _ , at first. Not even an entire  _ whoop,  _ just a little blip, a flash of blue and at a couple of minutes after 7:00 pm Billy was about to die. 

“Oh  _ fuck, _ ” Billy’s throat felt like it was closing in a little bit. 

Max was on alert in an instant. 

“Are you speeding?” She snapped. The sirens were full ongoing now. 

Blue, red, blue, red. 

“ _ No,  _ I’m actually going 60!” Billy pointed at the speedometer. It read  _ 62,  _ but any cop that didn’t count in 5s actually deserved to die. 

But Billy knew this wasn’t about speed. 

“He called the cops on me,” Billy said, because of  _ course.  _ “He called the  _ goddamn cops  _ on his own  _ son.  _ He probably said I fucking  _ kidnapped you!  _ I am  _ actually  _ going to prison.” 

Was he breathing hard? He felt like he was breathing hard. Like the air was some kinda  _ gel.  _

“What?!?” Max shouted. 

The speedometer said 67 now. 

“ _ Neil.  _ He called the cops. Probably gave ‘em my plates  _ hours  _ ago.” 

“Billy!” 

The sirens got louder. 

“Billy you should pull over.” Max sounded scared. 

84.

“That’s actually an  _ awesome  _ idea.” 

Billy didn’t sound scared. 

He goddamn was, though. 

“BILLY!” 

All Billy saw in front of him were empty fields lined with trees. They passed a sign, maybe. It was hard to tell in the dusk. 

“Billy SLOW DOWN!” 

“Not  _ happening,  _ Maxie!” 

There was a fence coming up along the right side of the road. 

A tall fence. A lot better then the bits of wooden posts and barbed wire he’d seen from the rest of back-country Missouri. 

“BILLY PULL OVER!!” Max shrieked. 

“That! I can do, sweetheart!!” Billy  _ screamed  _ along with her as he  _ wrenched  _ the steering wheel. 

The Camaro's tires  _ screeched  _ underneath them before the drum-like sound of gravel and dirt kicking up under the car was almost enough to distract from the sirens. 

They didn’t hit a fence. 

So, just maybe,  _ there was a god.  _

Or a devil, honestly. 

Who the fuck else would keep him alive.

Billy was happy that when they crossed state lines he’d decided to put on a damn  _ seat belt  _ because speeding through a back-road Missouri field was a bumpy ride. 

“You alive?” Billy asked Max, who looked like Spiderman trying to climb into the wall of the car. 

“Fuck! You!” she screamed, there was a lock of red hair stuck in her mouth. 

Billy looked beside them, that fence was hard to see in low lighting, but it was there. And in the side mirror, he saw those flashing blue and red lights a bit further up the road. The longer it took that cruiser to back up and get around the fence, the further Billy got. 

Billy glanced over at Max again. But he could only spare so much concentration. Steering over dead grass at 80+ miles an hour was a trip. 

“You could’ve  _ killed us,”  _ Max hissed. Then hiccuped. 

“Are you fucking  _ crying?”  _ Billy asked. 

“We could’ve flipped and  _ died.”  _

“But we  _ didn’t  _ and now I’m not in handcuffs.” 

“You. Almost. Killed us, Billy!!” Max’s eyes were red, he could tell that much, her hair everywhere. She leaned over the console and punched his arm.  _ Hard.  _

“Ow! Bitch. Do you  _ want  _ me to get arrested?” Billy frowned at her, curling his lip as he did. They went over a particularly rocky patch of field, bouncing them both around the car. 

“Yes, actually! You’re an actual psycho. He was  _ so  _ after you for speeding. And now its like, avoiding arrest or something.”

Billy just  _ sighed  _ through his teeth, “Just shut up. The whole point of that was  _ not  _ getting arrested. And I  _ succeeded  _ as far as I’m concerned.” 

He turned in his seat to talk to Max better. 

“Don’t you get that? That was all Neil. He’s fucking  _ done  _ with me but doesn’t want me loose in society so he’s trying to get me  _ arrested.”  _

“He’s  _ right  _ Billy!” Max leaned forward. There were still tears falling down her face. In her pale eyes that kept flickering between him and the windshield. Frantic. 

Billy’s vision blurred. For a second all he could really focus on was Max’s orange hair as it whipped around. 

“You know that’s not true, Max,” he started. He tightened his grip around the steering wheel with his left hand, reaching out with his right. 

He latched onto Max’s shoulder, yanking her to face him. 

“You  _ know  _ that’s a fucking  _ lie,  _ Max.” 

But Max wasn’t looking at him. 

_ “Max!”  _

“Billy look at the fence!” 

“Max, fucking look at  _ me--!”  _

“Billy!” Max’s voice cracked, she was staring out at the fence, she didn’t sound angry-afraid like before. 

Just scared. 

Billy looked at the fence and the air left his body. 

There was a  _ thing  _ beside it. Driving south-ish they could see it in the ever-dimming light of the sunset. 

Not really registering it, Billy flipped on his headlights and the light…  _ rippled.  _

The air was  _ moving _ , folding in on itself. The distant horizon line of trees was constantly distorting. It might’ve also been  _ spinning _ . It made him wanna throw up but never look away. He felt petrified and hypnotized. And so  _ nauseous.  _

And what a weird way to die. Running from the cops who were after a sister he didn’t want, going in the direction he did. 

Billy  _ slammed  _ on the brakes but it was too late. The dead grass under them kept them sliding,  _ careening.  _ The headlights grew brighter and  _ brighter _ \--the radio started flipping stations. 

His ears popped as he listened to Max screaming. 

Wasn’t her voice tired by now?

 

 

Billy had had concussions before... but never from  _ not  _ hitting anything. 

He  _ groaned  _ deep in his throat, crossing his arms over the dash and lying his head on the steering wheel. The car was still  _ moving,  _ but it was this slow, lazy skid across dirt and dry grass.

Gradually, it stopped. Ironically, in a smoother fashion then when Billy intentionally put on the breaks.  

Billy hadn’t really eaten anything that day… but he was still about to throw the fuck up. He heard higher-pitched sounds of pain to his right. He glanced over and like… his vision was  _ swimming  _ but when it  _ stopped  _ he saw Max similarly laid out across the dash. 

“Are you bleeding?” he asked. 

“Go to hell.” 

“I wish, it sounds like a fun time there.” 

Billy flexed his fingers, a few knuckles cracked and he let out another groan because it felt like somebody’d hit an internal puree button he didn’t know he had. 

He also lifted his head, because it was known fact that Billy Hargrove had a real, honest to god death wish. Hence why he could only get so mad when the blood in his head  _ moved _ .

It was… sunnier. Billy rubbed the heel of his hands over his eyes. When he pulled them back it was still sunny. It was also  _ hotter _ . Still orienting himself, it took Billy a minute to realize it was because the  _ heat  _ was blasting in the car. Warm,  _ stagnant  _ air was blowing through the vents and Billy jumped to switch it off. He also flicked the headlights off because, again, it was damn cheery out. 

“How long were we  _ asleep,  _ Billy?” Max rasped. She had her hands pressed to her temples, not looking at him. 

“We… well,  _ I _ wasn’t asleep,” Billy sounded unconvinced even to himself as he looked out across the expenses sunny green field. 

The. 

Green field? 

The  _ giant  _ green field? 

Billy twisted around in his seat, the road was always back behind them but apart from only a few feet behind them… there were no tire tracks, no smashed grass--just  _ bright  _ green grass. 

And there was no fence. 

Billy stared out the window, where just a minute ago he’d seen a tall metal fence. A prison-yard looking thing. And it was just  _ gone.  _

And it was so  _ sunny  _ outside. 

The radio switched over to one of Max’s twangy-alternative-pop songs. Billy looked at his phone. 

The lock screen said it was  _ 7:24, Wednesday, July 3 _

Billy looked out at the sun. Was it 7:24 in the  _ morning?  _

“What time does your phone say?” Billy asked. 

“7:25?” Max said, staring down at her own screen. 

“Even if they like… died, don’t phones automatically, like, adjust?” 

“Maybe your shitty Samsung won’t but mine should,” Max snarked. She seemed less upset now, Billy looked over at her and she was actually  _ looking  _ at him, which was an improvement. 

Even though she looked like she wanted to skin him. 

“Would you  _ shut up _ about your Pixel? And it fuckin’ didn’t ‘cause we’ve got the same time,” Billy smiled as Max spun his hand around to look at the screen of his  _ ‘shitty Samsung’  _ and frown. 

“It is  _ not  _ 7:25 PM,” Max said. 

“I honestly don’t know when we would’ve blacked out,” Billy said as he situated himself in his seat--this time actually putting on his seatbelt--and grabbed his sunglasses from where they’d somehow ended up in the footwell. 

He twisted in his seat and shifted into reverse. 

“But hey, cops are gone,” Billy smiled. He could definitely revel in that little positive. 

“I have  _ no service!”  _ Max sounded anguished. 

Billy really felt for her, seriously. 

“A whole  _ four minutes  _ without the internet, the horror” Billy said, despite his inner sympathies. 

 

⏭⏮

 

Once they were actually on the road, Billy was less happy about their entire situation.

“We need to find a gas station,” Billy concluded, looking at the worrisomely low gage of the tank. 

“We were just  _ at  _ a gas station,” Max was still angrily fiddling with her phone. Her freckled cheeks kept puffing out.

“Okay, let me rephrase,” Billy began, resting his wrist laxly on the steering wheel. He just pulled up to an intersection. And just like every other intersection, there was absolutely no one there. Just the occasional tree and more frequent corn fields. 

There was an absolutely  _ ancient  _ looking little stop light hanging alone above them, on like, a single wire. A stray squirrel could take it out.

“Because of being in a  _ car chase  _ I’m outta fuckin’ gas,” Billy turned down the music so that she’d actually  _ listen _ \--Max had had to switch to her downloads which meant too much Imagine Dragons, it was distracting--”And I’ve got like, three smokes left and if those run out I can’t be held responsible for what happens to you.” 

“Can we at least get  _ real food?”  _ Max jabbed his shoulder with her finger. Billy curled his lip from muscle memory if nothing else. 

“‘Kay fine. Only because  _ I’m  _ starving, though.” 

Billy honestly was, so when he passed  under that tiny light he looked around for something that looked like it serves more than stale doughnuts and Doritos.  

And it was at that moment he saw the sign out in front of an Exxon. Bright in the what- _ must-be- _ afternoon-sun. 

_ $1.52 per gallon.  _

Then he saw the poster in the window. 

Marlboros for  _ $1.  _

Billy was about to, truly, and completely justifiably,  _ cry.  _

Fuck food. 

He was in such a state of disbelief he actually used his turn signal. Max groaned beside him. 

“Do you  _ ever  _ listen?” 

“ _ Wha? _ ” Billy yelled over the already quiet radio. 

Max  _ groaned  _ as loud as she could probably manage as Billy pulled into one of the available pumps. His eyes widened a bit when he looked at it. 

It looked kinda like a refrigerator. Only, a really fuckin’ old and crusty refridgerator. Like, the kind that was  _ definitely  _ hiding a body. And it didn’t have a little screen with a loop of ads for the shitty food inside the gas station. It didn’t have a keypad. It was  _ tiny  _ and the pump was attached to the  _ side.  _

“Oh god this is some twisted little, novelty retro place,” Billy said with deep, understandable horror in his voice, “Or like, some shitty little town landmark. They probably get a tax write off, that’s why the gas is so cheap.” 

Billy didn’t actually know if landmarks got tax write offs. 

It sounded nice.

So the government probably didn’t do it. 

But it was the only explanation Billy had as he switched off the car and pocketed his keys. He looked back at Max, who just glared at him. 

Billy grumbled as he swung open his door and climbed out of the car, “We’ll  _ get  _ food, god. This place is just  _ way  _ cheaper than Sheetz or somethin’, okay?” 

Max didn’t respond. As Billy shut the door, he watched her reach for her hoodie pocket, only to snatch it out again and make a  _ ‘why me’  _ gesture towards the roof of the car. 

Billy walked towards the station, following the call of cheap smokes and practically a steal for soda. He didn’t understand what the archaic gas pumps were about because the inside had the, sad, vaguely green and cluttered look of every gas station ever. 

So Billy stepped up to the counter, internally losing his shit over  _ $1 Marlboros _ and smiled as the gnarly old man behind the register in a blue-mesh vest. 

“You boys are ‘liable to lose business with those prices,” Billy smiled as he pulled out his wallet. 

“Blame Reagan.” 

Billy just hummed. “Two packs a’ Marlboros, and 15 gallons at pump 2,” he said. When the old guy rang them up, Billy passed over his money and asked, “so what’s with that big fence outside of  town last night? Why’d they tear it down?” 

The guy grunted, “What fence?” 

“Big, official looking one,” Billy raised his arm up, as if to demonstrate, “like, five minutes outside of town, off Chmelir?” 

“Oh, yeah,” the cashier popped open the register. “The Davis’ just got half their land scooped up. Was somethin’ with  _ ‘Urbane Development’  _ all official. Took some of the poor sucker’s best land.” 

The man leaned over and he slid Billy his change. “People say they’re not putting in condos, but some freaky testing facility since that big scandal in Indiana. I haven’t heard of no fence, but they’re already surveying, cutting trees.” 

“But Hawkins was like…   _ 30  _ years ago,” Billy looked at the crazy old guy. 

But the cashier only rolled his eyes, “Just a couple months is a decade to you teenagers.” 

Billy looked up then, at the little red-letters-on-white flip calendar that was hanging on the wall above the scratcher ads. 

_ July 3rd, 1985.  _

Billy snorted, “You’re really dedicated to that retro schtick, huh? How much they pay you for like, period accurate chit-chat?” 

The cashier raised a bushy eyebrow at him.

“Who’s idea was the calendar?” Billy asked, instead. 

The man just stared at him. 

“Nobody’s complained about it being wrong?” Billy continued. He felt he was on thin ice but didn’t have a clue why.

“S’not wrong.” 

Billy blinked, “I mean. The year.” 

The old man was silent, no longer creepy and consperiority. The only sound was the scrape of Billy’s change on the counter as he snatched it up. And an ancient A/C unit rattling behind him. 

Billy snatched up his cigarette pack and was out the door in a record number of shoe-squeaks against the greasy floor. He had the change clutched in his hand. He looked at the other cars. 

There was an old Ford Escort, it looked more like a tin-can then a car. And there was an  _ old  _ little Fiesta pulling into the station. Billy looked down at his change. 

He had $2 and 36 cents. 

The quarter was from 1977. 

A dime from 1980. 

The penny was shiney, glowed with newness. It was stamped with a  _ tiny  _ 1985\. 

A door slammed shut and Billy watched a middle-aged woman walk out of her Ford Fiesta--it was tan and looked like a _filing cabinet with wheels_. She was in a tan business suit with shoulders that _kept going,_ a cruelian blouse and blocky heels that clomped on the pavement as she marched up to the little corner-store. Billy was still at the door like an idiot, so he ended up holding the door for her. 

And it was  _ fucking  _ 1985\. 

Billy started speed walking to his car. He tried shoving his change into his pockets. But he was in skinny jeans. Oh  _ god.  _ In skinny jeans. Skinny jeans weren’t a  _ thing  _ yet,  _ were they?  _

Billy scrambled for the car. His hand slipped on the door handle. Fuck, when did it get so  _ hot _ outside? And then remembered he still had to get the fucking  _ gas.  _

Billy undid his gas cap and just… grabbed the gas pump, it almost slid out of his hands. He stared at the little box of a pump. No credit card numbers. No  _ ‘do you have a membership card?’  _ questions.

Billy was watching the numbers on the gas pump fuckin’  _ turn _ . Flicked in a much more satisfying ration then he usually had to watch for gas as his money was drained away. But they looked like the same little flippy digits from old alarm clocks. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry form the shit the universe was throwing at him.. But like… this gas was so  _ dirt-goddamn-cheap,  _ it was absurd. 

Billy was only standing there for a couple minutes, absently watching cars pass by and Max getting mad at her phone inside the car. Billy pulled out his phone. Neil hadn’t sent him a single message. 

Then he shoved the heal of his hand into his face. 

He wasn’t getting messages because Neil’s phone hadn’t been  _ invented yet.  _

With  _ that  _ nice little thought in his head, Billy hung the gas pump back up, closed the cap and reached for the all too slick door handle. 

He finally managed to get in, quickly smacking down the lock on his door. 

Billy dug his thumb into his temple with one hand, the other trembled as he turned the key over in the ignition. 

“Billy?” Max asked. 

Billy reached for the radio, popping out the dinky little cassette-tape aux-cord adaptor he got off Amazon. 

He turned on the radio. 

At first it was static. 

He changed the station. Everybody Wants To Rule The World rang out through the car. And it wasn’t Lorde. 

He changed the station again, 

_ “And everything you want, and everything you need, is just not goo-ood enough--”  _

He changed it. 

_ “Because I’m craazy for youuu, tou-uuch me once and you’ll--”  _

He changed it again, frantically looking over at Max, “Are you  _ hearing  _ this?” 

_ “Oone mooore night--”  _

Billy shut the radio off. 

“What’s wrong, Billy?” Max asked, sounding like it was more out of annoyance then concern. 

“Do you hear a distinct lack of auto-tune, stupid DJ techno shit, and Selena Gomez?” 

“No…?” Max said. 

Billy turned on the radio again, changing the station  _ again.  _

_ “And the truuth… you know love is aalll we neeeed…”  _

He just let it play out for a bit. Let Michael Jackson come on public radio and  _ not  _ sing Thriller or Billie Jean. Which was the unfortunate reality of the state of radio in 2018. 

“Max, I don’t know how to fuckin’ say this but…” 

Billy’d like to look back on this moment and say he paused for dramatic effect, that he was just  _ that _ cool and composed, so put together in the face of what should be rupturing his mental state that he could still be dick-ish-ly dramatic. But, in fact, he was just having a nervous breakdown. 

“It’s 1985.” 

Max’s eloquent response was a simple, “HAH! Funny.” 

“I’m fucking serious, Max,” he stared at her, trying to make her understand how serious he was. 

By the way she busted out laughing, he figured she didn’t believe him. 

“I’m gonna show you,” Billy explained, he pointed at the gas station, “This is just a  _ normal  _ gas station, okay? And that's Rite Aid?” Billy pointed to said Rite Aid a little ways up the road, “It doesn’t look right either. See the  _ lack  _ of stock photos of people smiling and generic  _ ‘Wellness’  _ stamped on everything?” 

Max squinted down the road, “I’m not convinced.”

Billy ran a hand through his hair, “The--the  _ guy  _ in there, I talked to him about the fence and he said the government-shit, whatever, urban development thing  _ we  _ saw last night--and it was  _ night  _ like,  _ twenty minutes ago _ , if you remember--and it hasn’t been  _ built yet.”  _

“He’s insane?” Max shrugged, “And so are you?” 

“It’s also possible your phone isn’t getting internet because there is no wireless internet yet.” 

Max froze. 

Billy continued, “it’s not just because we’re in the backcountry. It hasn’t been  _ invented.  _ Yet.” 

“There was internet in the 80s!” Max snapped, “I think,” She looked off into the distance, “They had  _ Apple  _ already.” 

“So you ADMIT it’s the 80s!” he stretched out a hand to her, she looked like she might just bite a finger off, 

Max sucked in a sharp breath, “This-this isn’t  _ funny  _ Billy.” 

“I fucking  _ wish  _ I was joking, Max,” Billy, shifted gears and pulled out of the gas station, “I--I don’t goddamn know the logistics of any of this but. But it’s  _ probably  _ real.” 

“I--Billy,” Max was staring at the Rite Aid, just as Billy as about to pass it, “Billy  _ pull over--”  _

“I was just--”

“You just told me,” Max was shaking, “You told me we  _ time traveled.  _ I’m gonna go in there and ask what  _ year  _ it is and come back and probably punch you in the face.” 

“You aren’t tall enough,” Billy gripped, even as did, in fact, turn into the Rite Aid parking lot. He hadn’t even  _ started  _ to park in the basically-empty lot when Max threw open the door of the still moving car. 

“Max--!” he called, breaking with a  _ screech  _ and reaching out for Max’s arm, even though by now she was sprinting towards the doors. Billy sighed sharply through his nose before just turning off the car again. He even left the door open. Because not even a minute later Max stiltedly walking back out through the automatic doors. 

Billy climbed out of the car and jogged towards her. 

“He said it was 1985…” she said slowly, “And that I shouldn’t be speeding.” 

Billy reached out towards her, to steady her or some shit even though she was unnaturally still. 

“Don’t touch me,” she mumbled. 

“Max--” she pushed past him to get to the car, wobbled a bit as she did. 

She made it about another step before she started shouting. 

“ _ How _ did you manage to screw up this  _ monumentally,  _ Billy!” She yelled, not even facing him.

“Max! MAX!” Billy grabbed her by the shoulders, turning her back around. Here they were, in a Rite Aid parking lot--a Rite Aid that just didn’t look  _ entirely right. “ _ You’ve gotta calm down. Yeah this is freaky but--” 

_ “Freaky?”  _ Max snapped, she was breathing heavy, her hair kinda looked like it was floating, “I’m having a  _ panic attack  _ because we just got  _ time warped!”  _

“You’re not having a panic attack if you’re able to  _ say  _ you’re having a panic attack.” 

“That is such  _ bullshit.  _ Yes I  _ can.”  _

“Well, can you have it  _ quieter?”  _

“What! Even!” Max reached over and punched him in the shoulder. 

“Ow! What is with you and  _ hitting me  _ lately?” Billy grabbed at his shoulder, sneering at his step sister.

“ _ Not  _ really concerned about your moodiness when we’ve traveled through time, Billy,” Max said. She threw up her arms. “We’ve time traveled, we’ve  _ fuckin’  _ travel through  _ time!”  _

“Okay, Max, we need to make a plan, okay?” 

Max breathed in deep, raggedly, and jabbed a finger up at him, “We need  _ food,  _ Billy!” 

“Okay!  _ Okay.”  _

 

**⏭⏮**

 

The little bell on the door of the creepy little diner Max spotted rang through Billy’s ears and worked its tinny-little way down his spine. 

Max headed to the glossy countertop bar before the  _ actual little bell  _ stopped ringing at the door. Billy snagged her by her purple hood and said a quick, internal,  _ thank you  _ to whatever worldly power made her not wear something like her actual  _ YouTuber hoodie.  _ She was  _ such  _ a pre-teen. Despite being 13. 

You only started being a  _ real  _ time-to-die-before-adulthood-hits teen at 14 anyway. 

“Why do we have to sit in the back like  _ emos?”  _ Max hissed as Billy dumped her into the booth at the very back, right by the bathrooms because there wouldn’t be anybody within like, four booths of them. 

“Because,” Billy said, sitting down across from her and snagging a skinny laminated menu from their perch behind the napkin holder. The tables were an ugly, dated--or, fuck,  _ current _ \--yellow covered in a heavy veneer. Max sulked at him, already picking apart her napkin roll of silverware, “This isn’t a time where we can goddamn talk about freaky-ass shit and call it a fantheory. Or a meme, we’d just be crazy. And  _ fuck, put that away!”  _ Billy  _ almost  _ shouted when he saw Max  _ start to pull out her phone.  _

“Sorry…!” Max said, shoving the device back in her hoodie pouch, “Force of habit.” 

 

The brown, faux-leather booths squeaked beneath them. 

Billy was busy rubbing at his temples when a waitress walked over to them. It took a bit, shoved away into the shadows like they were. 

She was an older woman, with practically orange lipstick and bottle-brunette hair up in a once-tight twist. Her uniform was… also yellow. 

Billy only then noticed the novelty lemon-patterned trim along the chair-rail on the walls. He sighed through his nose before smiling up at the waitress. 

“I’m Lanie, what can I get’cha?” 

_ I’d love a new identity, a passport, a bourbon. A slap in the face so that I can wake up and discover this was all a horrible nightmare. A boyfriend? So much. _

“Uh, two Cokes and a little time for the menu, ma’am. _ ” Smile and she’ll leave,  _ he tried to communicate to Max, through smiling at her. She should understand, considering how much of a rarity this expression directed at her was. 

Max didn’t get the message. She just kept mutilating her napkin. 

The red hair was quite literally the only ounce of charm Max possessed. 

And in Billy’s personal opinion, even that wasn’t enough to save her from her own brat-dom. 

“I’ll get right on that, honey,” Lanie said. Her blocky heels were clicking away and Billy slapped down the menu in his hands onto the table. They probably had burgers so he’d ask for one and it’d be fine. 

He spun it around for Max. 

“Pick something,” he said. “Then we’ve gotta make a fuckin’ plan.” 

Max ran her fingers along the specials, she’d just order mac’n’cheese if they had it, who was she kidding? Billy leaned back in his seat, rubbing his palm over the back of his head, slightly sated by the buzzed feeling. 

“We need to go to Hawkins,” Max said. 

Billy’s hand slipped, knocking his sunglasses off the top of his head and lopsided onto his nose. He snapped them back, glaring at her.

_ “Why?”  _ he asked through his teeth, his very tired yet perfect teeth. Matching the rest of him.

“It’s the only place we  _ can  _ go, really,” Max said, rolling her eyes. She pushed a few stray hairs behind her ears before resting her elbows on the table, waving her hands around. Like that’d make what she was saying make any  _ sense.  _

“So you wanna just drive up there and  _ wait  _ 30 years?” Billy asked. 

“ _ No,  _ but Hawkins is literally the only place we can find answers.” 

“You’ve lost me,” Billy flicked at a knick in the glossy tabletop.

“The  _ lab!”  _ Max explained, which explained nothing. 

“There’s a freaky lab  _ here _ , it’s what  _ sent us  _ here, probably.” 

“Only it’s not here,” Max explained gently gesturing at him, like he was a child--which _ nuh-uh _ , “Not  _ yet.  _ But there is a lab in Hawkins. And there were disappearances! Just like us!” 

“You think people in Hawkins got  _ time-zapped?”  _ Billy leaned even closer, his chin practically touching the table. 

Max rolled her eyes, “I think that  _ something  _ weird happened. And it’s like, the  _ one  _ lead we have.” 

“It’s not a  _ ‘lead’,”  _ Billy air-quoted. _ “ _ This isn’t a murder. And Hawkins is still like three hours away from here,” Billy hissed. 

“Do you know any  _ other  _ creepy-ass towns with government-issued labs and people that mysteriously disappear? I’m not saying there  _ aren’t _ but we can’t exactly  _ google them,  _ can we?” 

Billy chewed at the inside of his cheek. Behind him he heard the waitress’s heels clacking. And an old fan rattling in the corner across from their booth.

Max was  _ staring _ him down. With her  _ freak  _ ginger-eyes. They were like icicles. Only not that poetic. 

“ _ Fine,”  _ Billy hissed, fidgeting in his seat, “We'll go to fuckin’  _ Hawkins.  _ I think I just threw up a little. _ ”  _

The waitress showed up  _ just  _ as he finished, thank whatever-higher-powers-that-were-currently-fucking-with-them. 

“So--,” the waitress only got that far before Max cut her off.

“I'd like a large chocolate shake, please.” 

Billy rubbed at his temple, about to veto  _ that  _ when he looked down at the menu and saw the  _ price  _ of a shake. Inflation really was a bitch. 

“And I’ll have strawberry,” Billy said, already deciding that there were 75 cent onion rings in his future.

Max grinned at him. She seemed more  _ victorious  _ then she did happy. 

She kinda scared him. 

 

⏭⏮

 

Billy couldn’t help but gawk at the girl he and Max passed walking out of the diner. It was a very  _ brave  _ shade of orange. Billy ended up holding the door open for her if only because he was transfixed. 

“I think I miss contouring,” Billy said once the chick had passed in a cloud of hairspray and  _ Jovan Musk.  _

Max just impatiently waved him towards the Camero before running to the parking spot and yanking on the door handle like an  _ idiot _ . 

“Can you stop being a jerk for two minutes?” she asked. 

“I might combust.” 

“Perfect! Two for one,” she exclaimed, hanging back on her heels while grabbing onto the handle, balancing her leftovers box above her head with the other hand.

“Stop that!” Billy snapped, “And you are  _ not  _ putting that in the back seat!” 

 

⏭⏮

 

“I can’t believe I’m still driving to  _ Hawkins,”  _ Billy lamented half an hour into their drive. 

Max--with a styrofoam take-out container in her lap because Billy did  _ not  _ trust it alone in his backseat--rolled her eyes. 

“It’s either Hawkins in the possible 21st century, or the 80’s  _ everywhere else.”  _

Billy  _ groaned,  _ “Fuck my  _ life.”  _

“Drama queen.” 

 

**⏭⏮**

 

“Hey Billy?” Max asked at the hour mark. The trees had gotten progressively closer together since passing Indianapolis.

“Yeah?” 

“I wanna save my phone battery. We might have to actually turn on the radio.” 

Billy’s response was something akin to a dying cat.

And Phil Collins suddenly blasting over his speakers was enough to distract Billy from the styrofoam box in his backseat. 

 

**⏭⏮**

 

“I can’t  _ take this  _ anymore,” Billy snapped, reaching for the radio. 

“It’s just Phil Collins--!” 

“It’s been Phil Collins for the last  _ 2 hours--!”  _

“It’s not that bad _ \--”  _

“It’s on  _ every station!” _

 

**⏭⏮**

 

“Look, Billy, we’re almost there!” Max actually looked happy, which was a far cry from the car sickness scare half an hour ago. 

“Oh, yes, all the more closer to Hicksville, the joy.” 

“Why are you so bitter?” 

“It’s called sexual repression.” 

“Gross!” 

 

**⏭⏮**

 

Billy and Max were only twenty minutes outside of Hawkins when Billy pulled over for what was only his third smoke break of the entire trip. He’s got his window rolled down and eyes shut. 

Valiantly ignoring Max’s bitching about being  _ almost there  _ as he sighed heavily through his nose, most rapidly fading. 

 

**⏭⏮**

 

Billy and Max had only just passed the  _ Welcome to Hawkins  _ sign three minutes earlier when Max went temporarily insane. 

Or when her true form came to the surface, however one wanted to dress it, really. 

“Pull over! Pull over! Pull over, Billy!” Max started slapping at his arm. 

“You’re so  _ violent”  _ Billy said as he pulled over, “God, have you actually started your period?” 

“I will knee you in the nuts if you don’t stop that right there,” Max said, still waving at the big building in what must’ve been the middle of town. 

“Thank you, for proving my point,” Billy said just as he spotted  _ ‘Hawkins Public Library’  _ on a sign out front. “Oh my god why do we have to go to a library? Is getting tossed through time  _ not  _ enough of a throwback for you?” 

Max didn’t answer until Billy was already pulled up to the curb, “‘cause we can’t go into this town blind, we need  _ information.”  _ She unbuckled her seatbelt. Billy absently wondered if it was even illegal to not wear them now. And then had to glare at his own hand as it started reaching for his phone to  _ google  _ it. 

“I’m not about to walk in there to look up 80s lingo,” Billy said flatly, but Max was already getting out of the car. Billy rolled his eyes but surged forward to catch up anyway. 

When he reached her--already halfway up the stairs--Max explained herself, “we need to know about the  _ lab _ . And about the kid who  _ didn't  _ die.” 

“So we’re old school stalking,” Billy concluded as he opened the door--not  _ for  _ Max, she just happened to be right next to him. 

“Followed by interrogating,” Max said. She was instantly off into the depths of the place. The ironically, not well lit library. It had a bunch of dark woods, and those old green lamps. 

“We’re interrogating a small child,” Billy said, shoving his hands into his pockets, looking around the library and Max ran off, “Great, because I’m not already enough of an asshole.” 

Well, if Billy was certain of anything as he wandered through the stacks, not even trying to follow Max. Or knowing where to look. (Not that  _ Max  _ could possibly know what she was doing. She  _ never  _ went to the library. He knew this because he was never forced to  _ drive  _ Max to the library.) it was that he wasn’t going to be a part of any book research. 

Then Billy spotted the check-out desk and smiled.  _ That  _ he could get some info from. Even if it would probably be a scarring experience. 

“Hi,” Billy started, leaning against the check-out desk. A lady with dark hair and bottleneck glasses cocked an eyebrow at him. The chain on her lenes jangled as she moved, stamping in books and looking wholly unimpressed. That her blouse… had a  _ lot  _ going on. Lavender and--and  _ lavender.  _

“Are you lost, dear?” She asked, “I’m guessing you haven’t been in one of these in a while, it’s called a  _ library.”  _

_ Ouch.  _

“And here I thought it was the art museum,” Billy was all grins. “I’m Billy, by the way, new in town and just taking my little sister around to all the town hot spots. She  _ loves  _ reading.” 

It was almost frustrating, how quickly she melted. One second he was a delinquent, and the next he was just  _ ‘misunderstood charm’. _ Like, c’mon? She didn’t have to be that easy. 

“Well, what is it you need, Billy? Is your sister having trouble finding something?” She gently closed the book infront of her, the aged spine cracked a bit. 

“Phsh,” Billy rolled his eyes in a way that looked more endearing then it was annoyed. The last thing he wanted this lady to know was the  _ truth.  _ “That bookworm’s finally in her natural habitat, she’s fine. This is more… personal.” 

The librarian--Melissa, her little gold name tag read--looked skeptical. 

Billy ducked his head, hooding his eyes a bit to drive the image home. “I’ve heard some weird things about this place. Dunno what to believe and what total bull-- _ ahem,  _ fiction?” Billy leaned closer, squinting against the subsequent glare from the bright sun coming out of the window, that one of like,  _ four  _ windows, “I thought that you’d have a wealth of information.” 

Melissa’s nose wrinkled, “What  _ ‘things’,  _ exactly? Not much of anything happens in Hawkins. _ ”  _

“Like, some people disappearing,” Billy said, “if I’m honest,” Billy looked over his shoulder at where Max was chewing gum over by the cassette tape rentals--wow it took her  _ no  _ time to give up, “I'm only asking 'cause my baby sister is hunting through the science-fiction and I've gotta convince her she's not gonna get abducted by aliens.” 

Billy chuckled, which led Melissa to laugh. Her big glasses slipped a bit at the motion. A couple sequins along the collar of her lavender blouse sparkled. 

_ God,  _ why’d Billy have to get stuck in the  _ 80’s?  _

“Well, you can just tell her it was just a boy that went missing in the woods for a few days. The poor family, they really went through an ordeal. They even had a  _ funeral _ ,” Melissa said, shaking her head. “I know that won’t help much in a fight against such an active imagination, but maybe one of our new releases could be a good distraction?” She started pointing towards another part of the library.  

“What family?” Billy didn’t give a shit about  _ books.  _

“Oh, the Byers, their boy, Will, was the one who went missing. That was almost two years ago now,” Melissa looked off to the side for a moment, “Then  _ Bob  _ only last October…” 

“Byers…” Billy sucked air through his teeth, “Byers… hey, where do they live? We might just be neighbors.” 

 

**⏭⏮**

 

Billy and Max sat in house number 3 they’d tried since passing Cornwallis and Kerley. 

It wasn’t a great house. And there was an ugly green Pinto parked out front. It was a really worn, only one story, with a low front porch and a clothes line hanging out front.

“Okay, you go up there,” Bill said, nodding to the house. Max squinted at him. 

“Why do  _ I  _ have to go up there?” Max asked. 

“Because a little kid looking for another little kid isn’t as goddamn creepy as a random-adult looking for a little kid.” 

“You’re not an adult,” Max rolled her eyes. 

“I’m  _ basically  _ an adult. And I can pass for 22 so even if I told them I wasn’t it wouldn’t help anybody,” Billy argued. Mostly, he just didn’t wanna go up there. He didn’t want somebody calling the cops on him for showing up and asking creepy questions about their child. But Max was a kid  _ and  _ a red head. 

She was doomed from the start, so it was fine. 

“We  _ both  _ go,” Max said instead. 

“Okay, sure,” Billy said, “But  _ why?”  _

“I’m not--! I’m not good with adults,” Max said through clenched teeth. 

“That’s true, you are fuckin’ socially inept,” Billy agreed with a smile. “I’ll come but only to stand there and look pretty.” 

“Ugh, like you could actively shut up,  _ anyway _ ,” Max jumped up out of the car again. 

“I  _ do  _ though,” Billy said, stepping out after her, “it’s called a gag.” 

“That sounds fantastic!” Max said. 

“For me, yes, for you, no,” Billy laughed as Max stopped halfway to the house to spin around and make gagging noises at him before quickly rushing the door. 

Max was  _ always  _ running or jogging. It was exhausting. 

Max knocked loudly, just as Billy reached her. And she didn’t have to knock long before the door was swinging open. The hinges on the door squeaked. 

A tiny brunette woman was on the other side, she looked at Billy wearily, but when she saw Max she relaxed. 

“Can I help you?” She asked. She was in khakis and a blue and grey striped t-shirt. She had a nice smile. 

But that wasn’t Billy’s current concern. He was about to find out if his little step-sis could lie her ass off proficient. 

“Hi! I’m Max, I’m a friend of Will’s,” Max said, cocking her hair with a little flip of red hair and a smile, “My brother and I just moved here and I met Will at… at the arcade--” ooh, that was a  _ good  _ one, way to use obscure retro-gamer shit you learned from  _ Wreck-it Ralph  _ Maxie, “--And he said to stop by? Is he here?” 

The woman was putty in her hands after that. 

“Oh, hello Max. I’m Joyce, Will’s mom. And I’m sorry but Will isn’t here,” she shook her head at Max. “He went to the mall with his buddies today.” 

_ Damn _ , Billy thought. 

Good thing Max was about 7 steps ahead of him, though. 

“I can just meet him there!” Max said cheerily, which might just give them away, yikes, “Do you know what he was like… wearing so that I can spot him?” 

“Oh, well,” Joyce was back to smiling, looking fondly between the two of them. Not nearly enough to make Billy feel guilty for lying, but cute all the same. “He was in this new blue shirt, it has this cute little red collar and…”

 

**⏭⏮**

 

_ Starcourt Mall,  _ Billy decided, was purgatory shrouded in fake-palm trees. Every-- _ every  _ glossy tile squeaked beneath him. Everything was either flashing or  _ yelling  _ or trying to be  _ too  _ serine and sunny. 

It’d also taken  _ 10 minutes  _ to find a parking stop.  _ 10 minutes!  _ And they’d had to walk, like, another five in early July heat on asphalt. 

Max was most definitely sunburnt. Meanwhile Billy, himself, was immune to such trivial physical flaws so… 

“'kay so what are we looking for, again?” Billy asked, avoiding getting between a small child with a backpack leash and the mother attached to it. 

“Probable nerd-hair and a dumbass blue polo. Surrounded by other prepubescents,” Max said, eyeing a  _ Casual Corner  _ dubiously. Or, more likely, the plaid pant suit number hanging in the window. Green and white,  _ wow.  _

“So, the dude version of you?” Billy asked. 

“ _ No,  _ he's  _ brunette _ . And speaking of hair, you need a  _ hat,”  _ Max complained. She glared at the sides of Billy’s head. Like that’d do shit? 

“Why?” Billy rubbed at the cropped sides of his head. He looked good. Wasn’t that enough of a discraction? 

“Because people didn’t  _ have  _ hair like that until… 2014.” 

Billy rolled his eyes, but he  _ also  _ reached into the inside pocket of his jacket, where he  _ actually  _ had a tiny blue beanie. He pulled it on over his head, situating it and yanking it just over his ears--covering most of the buzz--making sure a  _ select  _ few curls poked out the front. 

_ “Better?”  _ Billy asked, splaying out his hands to the side and walking backwards to face Max. 

His step-sister looked like she was going to have an  _ extremely-premature  _ ulcer. 

“That’s  _ worse!”  _ Max  _ snatched  _ the beanie off Billy’s head and then she was headed for one of the garishly-bright blue metal  _ trash cans.  _

“Hey!!” Billy yelped, he grabbed the hat out of her hand before she could chuck it, “What the  _ hell?”  _

“The damn skinny jeans are bad  _ enough _ , Billy,” Max said, gesturing to his pants. Billy looked down at them, they were light stonewash blue and there was a small-- _ natural-- _ hole just under the right knee. They weren’t  _ that  _ skinny. “You don’t need to look like a full hipster  _ before  _ hipsters became a thing in the time period most of them are trying to be a low-key cliche  _ of _ .” 

“That’s so meta…” Billy whispered as Max stomped away from him. 

They passed through the food court, and Billy got continuously more freaked out at every little detail he noticed. Like the little light bulbs lining the bottom of the second floor, or the obscene amount of 4th of July sales which included a creepy Uncle Sam outside of tiny furniture outlet who--in Billy’s time--would get arrested for leaning down and yelling at small children. 

Even if it was about buy-one-get-one couch covers. 

“Here!” Max called from ahead of him, she was at another clothing boutique, holding up a black baseball cap. Billy snatched it out of her hands and scoffed as soon as he saw the logo on the front. 

“ _ Not _ wearing this,” Billy said, tossing the hat back onto the spinny-wrack that was outside the open-way entrance to the store. 

“Why not?” Mac asked, pointing one skinny finger at the handwritten sign above the display, “They’re a  _ buck.”  _

“It has the  _ Colts  _ on it,” Billy flicked his wrist in the general direction of the stupid navy horseshoe, “Not gonna happen.” 

“You’re such a diva,” Max rolled her eyes before grabbing the colts hat-- _ of all  _ the hats!--”I’m buying this, I have a  _ dollar.  _ And you’ve actually got people staring at your head.” She waved to some chicks who were loitering outside a-a  _ ‘DEB’?  _ One of them was in overalls. It was gross. 

“That’s ‘cuz I’m  _ hot _ , Maxi pad,” Billy fully turned around, doing this sorta-leaning back thing with his neck that  _ would  _ look awkward if he didn’t have  _ his  _ jawline. 

Overalls waved, all smiley, her hair about 8 inches above her body. 

Billy made sure to look properly grossed out, all pinchy faced and fiddling with his earring before he turned away from her. Unfortunately, while he’d been doing that, Max had spent a buck on a hat he didn’t need and proceeded to shove it onto his head. 

“ _ God _ , Max,” Billy scrambled to situate the hat correctly, “you’re such a pain.” 

“No, you’re confusing me with you,” Max explained, shoving her hands into her hoodie pouch and rushing forward deeper into the mall. Billy rolled his eyes as he sped up to follow her. 

The entire mall was just so  _ colorful  _ and  _ bright  _ and it grossed Billy out if he was honest. And the people… they either looked understandably bored, reasonably stressed, or worrisomely happy. 

Then there was the gaggle of pre-teen nerds hanging out in the food court, looking like they were trying their damndest to look  _ ‘unique’  _ with a dumb and and one was wearing a--a  _ camo  _ bandana, and then this really short one in a dumb little blue polo with a red co--

“Max!” Billy exclaimed, jumping forward and snagging her by the hood. She surged back and instantly spun around on a sqeaky sneaker to stink-eye him. 

“What the  _ hel--”  _

“There’s the nerds! Just like the lady said, four other nerds, and the weird hat and everything,” Billy said, not pointing but blatantly gesturing in that direction with his head. 

“It’s not the  _ dumbest  _ hat I’ve seen,” Max said. 

“That’s because you put that one on my head, but that chunky monstrosity is a close second.” 

“Why do you hate the colts?” 

“Childhood trauma.” 

“That’s not something you should joke about, Billy.” 

“Why? Am I scaring you?” 

Max just rolled her eyes. “So how are we gonna approach them?” Max asked. 

“Well,” Billy said, gesturing for Max to follow him as he walked towards the idiots. Who really, really were a mess. The maybe-Will one was so tiny and had a bowl cut. Bandana was also in camo shorts which was just pushing it. Hat-guy seemed to also have a brown poodle trapped underneath that cap. Then the… other one looked like a human paperclip. And last Billy saw that might’ve been a girl. Who was actually wearing cute striped pants, he’d admit that. 

“Considering,” Billy picked up again, explaining to a for-once-listening-to-him-Max, “that I’m about a foot taller than all of them. Combined with the fact that I’m older and overall intimidating in a dashing way, I’m just gonna tell them to answer my fucking questions or they’ll taste my foot from up their ass.” 

“Billy--!” Max snapped at him, but it was too late, they were too close. Max had no choice but to follow. 

Billy grinned as he approached the kids. They all instantly quieted from whatever shit they were talking about, and their faces ranged from scared--tiny guy--to annoyed and extremely hostile--the girl. 

“So!” Billy clapped his hands together and Max crossed her arms for effect, “Who's Will?” 

All five of them stared at him. Or, well, the nerd in the bandana was staring at Max, which,  _ creepy _ . And the girl was actually staring at a bird on one of the fountains only glaring at Billy for enough time to only slightly intimidate him. 

But the office-supply, shrimpy, and curly looked properly afraid.

“I’m Will,” shrimpy said, before getting shoved aside by the loud, curly-top one. 

“ _ I’m  _ Will,” he said, dramatically holding a hand to his chest. He was in a damn  _ periodic table  _ shirt. It made Billy’s eyes feel pain. 

“Dustin!” bandana said, shoving curly-- _ Dustin-- _ in the shoulder. 

“Oh,  _ thanks,”  _ Dustin drawled,  _ “whoever it is you are.  _ Now he knows I’m not Will!” 

“He already knows Will’s Will,” bandana continued, waving his arms at the tiny guy. The kid looked like a strong breeze would send him over. 

“Because you just  _ told him!”  _ Dustin complained, reaching over and flicking his friend--possibly? Didn’t exactly look like it to Billy--between the eyes and right under the camo headpiece he must’ve  _ thought  _ was very cool. 

“It’s not like anybody else  _ looks  _ like a Will.” 

“Will is a  _ very  _ generic name. It could literally be any of us.” 

“One of us is a  _ girl!”  _

“Willamina is a  _ name!”  _

Billy pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“‘Kay, I’m bored,” Billy grabbed the most-probably-Will-one by his dumb red polo-collar and hauled him over to a small set up of benched at the center of the  _ hallway?  _ Billy had literally not been to a mall since he was like… 7. He had no idea what the fuck anything was called. Other then  _ closed  _ and  _ rundown _ like most places like this were in 2018. 

“HEY!”  _ all  _ the kids started yelling as Billy plopped maybe-Will on an ugly, teal bench with purple piping supporting it. 

“I give up,” Billy said to the skylight above him. He was going to run his fingers through his hair, but all he hit was baseball-cap. Stupid  _ Colts.  _

“Tell us where you disappeared to for a week, kid.” 

The kid went pale, and Billy was verbally accosted by his buddies. So when it came to answers; no dice. 

“You can’t talk to him like that!” 

“Uh, none of your  _ business.”  _

“Listen  _ mister  _ you can’t just march up to Will like that, you aren’t the first person--” 

Billy cracked a smile that he only really felt in his knuckles, “Did I  _ ask  _ you little shits?” he hissed. 

They quieted. 

“Now, what I  _ did  _ ask  _ Will _ here was,” Billy handed the reins over to Max with a flick of his wrist. 

“Where did you disappear to two years ago?” she said flatly. The collective group gasped. Minus bird girl. 

“I-in the woods,” Will said, his eyes got impossibly  _ bigger _ . 

“I think we all know that’s bullshit,” Billy said and it was far too easy to pick up the kid by his tucked-in shirt. He weighed as much as a gallon of milk. 

“Hey  _ buddy _ ,” a voice that just  _ dripped  _ in condescending-ass called out from behind Billy, “Can I help you?” 

Billy spun around, something vaguely insulting at the ready. But when he saw who was behind him he was thrown for a loop. Because Billy could handle time travel, but he honestly wasn’t all there for teleportation and there was really no other answer for how he’d suddenly traveled from the mall to a trashy 80’s porno set. 

_ And yet!  _

There was a guy, not four feet away, in a sailor hat and shorts. 

At first he just looked like a normal dude. Just your average joe in navy-blues and pastels. Then Billy actually  _ looked  _ at him and was struck with how  _ pretty  _ he was, with the allusion of big hair shoved under his hat, big round eyes and--the shorts? 

“In  _ so  _ many ways,” Billy said. 

Max punched his arm. Billy’d glare at her but that’d involve looking away and he just wasn’t  _ down  _ for that, like,  _ at all.  _

“Steve!” the one with the weird hat--Dusty?--exclaimed, “This guy's being a dick could you punch him in the face?” 

_ Steve _ , which--wow, what a name. In Billy’s lifetime he’d never met a Steve under the age of 42. 

But this wasn’t his lifetime. 

So the Steves of the world got to be hot 17 to 20-somethings. The eyes made it hard to tell. And the  _ height _ . And the  _ shorts.  _

“Would you put the kid down?” Steve-- _ pretty, pretty Steve-- _ said gesturing to the 70 pound dork Billy realized he was still holding up his by polo. 

“Uh, sure,” Billy dropped the kid down and he stumbled back into the freckled dweeb. 

“Annd now you should leave,” this  _ Steve  _ continued, smiling at him in an all too practiced way. Like he really  _ wanted  _ Billy to listen to him, but sensed he wouldn’t. It was like this guy already  _ knew  _ him. 

Billy was feeling a connection. So he just  _ smiled.  _

“Not until my sis’ and I have a nice,” he grabbed Will again, by the shoulder, and Max’s with his other hand, “civil conversation with this little guy. We just need answers to a few questions.” 

“What questions?” the--the  _ Dustin! Got it!-- _ Dustin one snapped. 

“Not your  _ problem,”  _ Max punctuated her sentence with a little jump at the kid. 

Dustin proceeded to  _ leap  _ back and freak out, “Okay! Okay! But literally  _ anything  _ you ask Will is our problem. Like, very much so. See, we’re a party, with a democratic decision making basis to it, with clear guidelines and one of those guidelines is to not let other party  _ members  _ get abducted by weird people.” 

“I’m not weird,” Billy groused. 

“You have weird hair,” bandana piped up. 

“You wanna  _ lose  _ yours?” 

“Are you saying you’d shave my hair off??” 

“You wanna  _ find the hell out?”  _

“Could we not!” Steve interrupted, grabbing Billy’s arm and yanking it off Will’d shoulders--Steve had big hands, fuck Billy’s life--“Swear in front of the children?” 

“We’re  _ 13,  _ Steve!” one of them--literally any one of them, it wouldn’t have made it any less annoying who said it--shouted

“I was talking about the  _ 8  _ year old hiding outside of K-B toys” 

Everyone turned their heads around to see the little girl in a purple corduroy jumper with a blue snow cone shoved in her face. 

Her pigtails appeared… judgemental.

“Now, we’ll  _ ‘talk’,”  _ Steve proceeded to give air quotes before putting his hands on his hips. The gesture made Billy feel things, “But you’re gonna tell us who  _ on earth--”  _ poignantly censored swearing should  _ never  _ be so funny but there it was. That’s what was making Billy’s heart go pitter-patter. Humor. “--you two are, how you even know Will, and what you want.” 

“Yeah!” Dustin said triumphantly, “And we don’t have to answer  _ any  _ of your questions.” 

“Can you turn that one off?” Billy asked Steve, waving at Dustin and sneering. 

“A beautiful fantasy, but no,” Steve said. And Billy just might be in love, dammit. 

“Steve--!” Dustin squawked. 

“ _ Dustin,”  _ Steve hissed. Dustin did this wavy arm motion that was received with some well-practiced eyebrow acrobatics from Steve before the kid finally shut up. 

“So, I'm Billy,” Billy said, hand to his t-shirt, smiling, and tilting his chin up if only to make it harder for people to see the colts logo on his baseball cap. 

“Congratulations,” was all Steve responded with before turning to the children. Which? Billy cocked his head a bit. Made no sense to Billy. Here he was, being himself and this was the reaction. 

Either positive or negative Billy was used to  _ more.  _ Like maybe a slap in the face or a hair-finger-twirl or something. Billy frowned. This was incorrect. 

“Okay, fine, be pissy,” Billy commented, which--if the way Steve’s face took on a much more  _ ‘bitch, excuse me?’  _ aspect--wasn’t helping any. “We  _ need  _ to talk to this damn kid, okay?” 

Billy stepped toward Will. That was a mistake, because his foot didn’t even touch the ground before Steve was standing between them.  _ All  _ up in Billy’s space. 

His hair smelled nice. 

_ Fuck _ ,  _ focus Billy.  _

“That’s not happening,” Steve said slowly. He seemed to be leaning up on his toes a bit, milking the  _ one  _ inch the guy seemed to have on Billy. And that’s just because Billy’s in sneaks, honestly. In boots it wouldn’t even matter, so Steve’s little intimidation act was completely disregarded because of Billy’s fashion agenda so what did it matter that he was a  _ little  _ taller? 

Billy had better shoulders. 

But the guy’s  _ eyes-- _

“Alright, Steve--it is Steve, right?” Billy smiled, “Any other day, this would be cute, I’d have a fun time with your preppy-ass gay chicken shit, okay?” Billy bit his lip as a means of articulating his feelings. And also because he knew what he looked like, “but just  _ not  _ today, pretty boy, so my sister and I are gonna have a nice,  _ civil  _ conversation with that kid, and you’re not gonna stand in my way.” 

“And  _ why,”  _ Steve asked, tilting his head so far Billy thought his dumbass sailor cap was about to slide off, “should I listen to you?” 

“Because I have very pertinent information, Stevie.” 

Billy glanced at Max, who was busy looking angry at the other gremlins. He hoped her dumbass reddit theories weren’t shit. 

“About that lab that closed down, and how the real story is  _ much  _ stranger.” 

 

⏭⏮

 

Billy hadn’t really known what the fuck happened to him and Max. But they were now in the back storage room of an ice cream shop. And while Steve had grabbed him by the tee-shirt and dragged him there, he was accused of all the names of the varying post-children before being trapped in an enclosed space with them. 

And their  _ questions.  _ The  _ ‘who do you work for’s  _ and  _ ‘who sent you’s, ‘what do you want’s  _ all at once before finally Steve started yelling. 

Billy and Max were backed into the corner of the room, against a loud freezer and industrial bins of sundae toppings, respectively, staring wide eyed. 

“Who _are_ you?” Steve asked once things were kinda quiet, with Dustin unnecessarily adding _‘yeah!’_ from behind him. 

“This is gonna be hard to believe. And you’ve gotta know, if I was lying it wouldn’t be  _ this  _ stupid...” Billy paused, trying to find a nice segway, something that would give them both sympathy and an air of superiority. He poignantly looked at  _ Steve  _ because he seemed to be the smartest one there (which made Billy wonder  _ how  _ this generation had avoided nuclear warfare) when--

“We’re from the future!” Max basically  _ shouted.  _

Billy grabbed her by the shoulder and slapped a hand over her mouth, cringing as her exclamation seemed to echo through the cramped storage room. Billy looked on, wide-eyed at their audience. 

Who just started  _ laughing.  _

 


	2. Let's Do the Doo Wop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "All will make sense in time, young padawan." 
> 
> "What the hell is a padawan?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> womenseemwicked beta read this and was SO VERY AWESOME every second they did
> 
> ~zeep

 

“Wh--?” Billy looked back and forth between the group. Steve looked mostly peeved. And the twigy one, Mick, looked like  he wanted to skin Billy alive. Meanwhile the other kids were just about falling over themselves. Dustin--the one Billy already extra hated--was about to knock down a storage bin of rainbow sprinkles off a shelf as he tired and failed to stand up straight while laughing. 

Lucas was bent over clutching his own knees, giggling. And Will and--Jane?--were laughing back by the door. 

“This is  _ serious!”  _ Max hissed. “We're from the future. Billy was speeding cuz we were running from the cops and the WHOOSH!” 

“Wh-where you going 88 miles per hour?” Dustin asked, cackling. “ _ Wow _ and I was actually worried.” 

“The hell is wrong with you?” Steve hissed, marching up to Billy, shoving a finger to his chest. Billy looked down. Steve had big hands. 

“Uh? I got thrown back through time. And that's only today's problem,” Billy looked up, cutting a sharp smile. Steve didn't reciprocate it.  

“You think this is _funny_?” Steve said, shoving his finger harder against Billy's chest. “These kids have to deal with enough shit without idiots like you harassing them and making a joke about the whole thing. I should kick your ass right now--!” 

“Oh? You think you  _ could _ ?” Billy sneered, stepping closer. 

“This is a low joke, buddy.” And how this dude managed to make the word  _ ‘buddy’  _ intimidating--in an  _ ascot  _ no less--Billy had no idea. “Taking that stupid movie and--”    
“It’s a great movie, Steve!” Dustin interjected. 

“Not the  _ point.”  _ Steve turned away from Billy, and the tension snapped. He was almost disappointed. Yes, Billy could tell when he had been about to get punched in the face, but _ still.  _

“What movie?” Billy asked.

Steve scoffed. “ _ What  _ movie? Jesus fuckin’--where do you get off?” 

“Back to the Future,” Will said. 

“Yeah, did you guys  _ just  _ see it and decide to be douchebags?” Milo scoffed, then got a look on his face like he’d ingested a bug while scoffing. Little Prick.

“This isn't a joke!” Max called out, then proceeded to shove her hand into Miles’--no, no  _ Mike’s  _ face. 

Mike staggered back, blinking, and rubbed a hand over his eyes at the sudden light shining at his face. 

From Max's phone. Or. The flash from the camera, that is. 

Max pulled her phone back towards her and Billy looked over her shoulder and huffed out a laugh at the sight of Mike's up close and pissy face on screen. 

“See?” Max said, turning her phone around for the group to see. “You don't have  _ this _ for another 30 years.” 

They all clustered together squinting at it. There was a disbelieving silence for all of half a second; then--

“ _ Whoa!”  _ Dusting exclaimed as he stared Max's phone screen, his eyes shining a touch manically in the light. “That took a picture?  _ Just now?”  _

“Yup!” Max looked all smug now, pursing her lips to keep from grinning so it looked like she'd just eaten a Warhead. It wasn’t like she  _ invented it _ . “It’s my cellphone.” 

“But it takes pictures?” fun-sized asked, trying to look over Dustin’s shoulder. 

“And plays music and play movies and play games,” Max listed off, going through her apps. “And all these different app..lications, like, here!” Billy watched as she opened snapchat. 

“Seriously? This is how you introduce the future?” Billy said, “No, give it--” 

“You have your own!” Max hissed, stretching out her arm and pushing the screen up close and personal with Dustin’s face. 

“He has one  _ too?”  _ Will--possibly, there were so many, Billy couldn’t keep up--asked.

“Billy has a Samsung, take that as you will.” Max sniped. Like an ass.

“Hey!” Billy shoved her in the shoulder

“A  _ what?”  _ Lucas asked, squinting his eyes. Suddenly they were all crowding around, asking questions. 

“How’s it powered?” 

“Are you a spy?” 

“Where are all the buttons?” 

“Yeah, just one thing,” Billy asked, holding up his phone out of reach. 

“What?” Bandana snapped. 

“Can we  _ exit  _ the storage closet? I feel suppressed.” 

 

⏭⏮

 

And that was how Billy found himself seated inside an empty, locked, nautically themed ice cream parlor. 

A small cardboard sign that read  _ ‘Closed, but boarding again soon’  _ in loopy, blue writing with a cartoon anchor was all that protected himself and Max from the outside world. 

Which was the least wack-a-do event of his day. 

He and Max sat on exhibition at one side of a booth, with five children and one possible adult staring them down from the other side. 

Steve sat directly across from Billy and his step-sister, McGlary Girl and Miles bookending him. Curly-top and Captain Camo were leaning up over the top of the next booth. 

Then Extra-Small had pulled up a chair at the end of the table. Billy didn’t really know how he did it, what with the chair looking like it weighed more than he did. 

“So, to reiterate,” Mike said with the fake confidence of someone who’d only used the word  _ ‘reiterate’  _ two times in their entire lives holding his interlocked hands out on the table in front of him like Dr. Evil. “What year do you  _ claim  _ to be from?” 

“2018,” Billy said calmly.

“When did Skynet take over?” Dustin asked from over Steve’s head. 

“It’s actually called Tik Tok and--” 

“Billy,  _ shut up,”  _ Max hissed at him. 

“Do you have replicants?” Lucas asked, leaning further over the booth dividers. 

“Kardashians--” 

_ “Billy,”  _ Max smacked off his Colt’s cap and he curled his lip at her. 

“I’m just answering their questions,” Billy said with a shrug, leaving his hat where it fell, hoping Max would forget about it and he’d never have to wear it ever again. 

“Well, since you’re being so open,” Steve started. 

“Only for you, pretty boy,” Billy winked, Max kicked his leg under the table. 

Steve simply gave him this look as if he couldn’t believe what his day was turning into. Which Billy didn’t understand, one had to be ready for anything if the first thing they did in the morning was put a sailor hat on. 

“What, exactly, happened to you?” Steve asked, his eyebrows moving like that didn’t know what to do, because Steve’s brain didn’t know what was going on.

“It was back in Missouri, Ida or something. We were driving--” 

“Racing from the cops,” Max added, sneering up at Billy. 

“I was going about 80-ish, and I turned off the road  _ just  _ missing this big fence...” Billy used his hands as he spoke, it seemed to entrance the children and annoy Steve. “Racing through this dead old field and then  _ whoosh  _ we go through this portal thing, the grass is green, and gas is cheap enough to make a grown man cry.” 

“It was Ionia, by the way, the town,” Max explained beside him. 

“How do you know that?” 

“Google maps won’t load past that spot,” Max shrugged. 

“Huh,” was all Billy responded with. “So we start driving through  _ Ionia _ , realize it’s the 80s and that  _ this  _ town has had its own disappearances, with like, the department of energy as a front. Well, back in Ionia it’s apparently Urban Development. And I can only imagine the types of horrors that are hidden within our government’s education department.” 

“Those poor bears,” Max said solemnly.

“Exactly,” Billy agreed, ignoring their audience’s confused glares. “That’s about all I have for you folks, so now would be a great time for Will here to share. What year did  _ you  _ get tossed into?” 

“Uh,” the Bambi-eyed kid mumbled. Will looked imploringly out at his friends. “I didn’t travel through time. I don’t think.” 

“Will went to a different dimension,” Dustin said with the pride of a soccer mom hanging up a macaroni sculpture, causing everyone sitting on that side of the booth to go into a fit. 

“Dustin!” 

“That was our  _ one  _ trump card!” 

“Oh my god.” 

Max and Billy, meanwhile, shared a look. Billy looked into Max’s wide eyes and watched at she reached the exact same understanding as himself. 

Will didn’t travel through time.

They were trapped. 

Billy finally felt the panic start to set in, he stared at the shiny metal napkin dispenser at the edge of the table, seeing his own distorted reflection. He looked out the window at the busy mall. 

Billy said, sliding down in his seat, “We’re stuck.  _ Seriously? _ ” 

He pressed the the heel of his hand to his temple, just trying to breath slow for a second.

“That’s  _ not  _ true,” Steve said, so sincerely that it snapped Billy out of his funk and he just stared across the glossy, green table at the other boy. His eyes had a calming effect, it was fucking with Billy  _ real  _ bad. 

“El’s  _ great  _ with doors,” Dustin chirped up, causing the quiet girl to glare at him. “What?” he squawked, holding up his hands. “You are!” 

“This is  _ different,  _ though,” Michel said. “That wasn’t time.” 

“Oh, no, it was just fighting some intergalactic, dimension hopping space-lord,” Dustin rolled his eyes.

“Is that like an…  _ Old  _ Doctor Who reference?” Max asked. 

“Not even kind of,” Lucas said, which was ominous and frightening. “But we can totally help you!” 

“Yeah,” Will sat up, smiling. And these kids might be annoying, but Will had a smile that could melt a glacier. “We’ll just drive to Ionia and--” 

“ _ Wait,”  _ Steve said, holding up a hand, “There is no  _ just  _ driving to  _ another  _ state.” 

“How long did it take you to get here?” Mike asked, seemingly ignoring Steve. 

“About 3 hours,” Max said. 

“See, Steve?” Lucas asked, gesturing towards Max. “Only--” 

_ “Only?”  _ Steve squawked. “We don’t have time to--” 

“It’s only  _ noon-ish,  _ Steve,” Dustin said, smacking the top of the booth his his hands. “We drive down there, El does her voodoo, drive back and it’ll only be about six. We’ll just say you bought us pizza for dinner and we forgot to call. It’s nothing that hasn’t happened before.” 

“That doesn’t mean it’s happening  _ now,”  _ Steve said, stabbing one finger dramatically at the table. 

 

⏭⏮

 

“How is this actually happening,” Steve asked the no one in particular as they walked out of Star Court. He’d changed into civies, a purple t-shirt and plaid blue-grey shorts. Hair ruffled and face confused. 

Needless to say, it was not a sad day in Mudville. 

Unfortunately, it was made apparent that he couldn’t ride  _ with  _ Steve, because they were the two legal drivers. But still, it was going to be quite the day ahead of them. 

Billy climbed into his car, the one comfort zone left when he was out of time and out of mind. The singular safe haven of worn leather and sticky automatic windows. The heavy door shut with a satisfying clunk and Billy leaned back against his seat, enjoying the silence, closing his eyes against the bright summer sun. 

Fleeting thought it was. 

The doors  _ creaked  _ open all at the same moment, followed by a plethora of voices that worked their way into Billy’s ears, down his skull, and chiseled at his brain stem. 

“So,” Dustin-- _ Dustin, not Max-- _ said as he flopped down into the passenger seat, “I have questions.” 

“Wh--” Billy sat up, spinning around to see Max and Lucas in the back of his car. “ _ Max,  _ what the hell are you doing back there?” he hissed. 

“Showing Lucas Cali photos,” she smiled up at him--all sardonic and saccharine--leaning over to Lucas with her phone in hand. Lucas, for his part, stared reverently at the screen. 

“So!” Dustin said, only  _ excessively louder _ . “Hoverboards are first on the agenda, followed by our current president and next months lotto numbers.”

“Not happening,” Billy said. “I’m not about to Butterfly Effect myself out of existence.” 

“Oh, that’s a good point,” Dustin nodded. The way he moved, everything on his person seemed to jostle around, from the chunky hat to his knees knocking together.  

“There’s gotta be something that’s not  _ too big.”  _

“That’s what she said,” Max snickered. 

“Oh  _ shut up,”  _ Billy groaned. 

“You’re just mad I said it first,” Max leered before leaning over to whisper with Lucas. 

“Put your seatbelt on,” Billy chided, putting on his own and starting up the car. It vroomed, like always, which was another comforting thing to Billy. His car might be worn down outside but damn if she didn’t purr. He started the aneurysm inducing task of exiting a mall parking lot. 

“I don’t even think it’s illegal to not have one yet.” 

“Uh, I don’t care,” 

“Uh, you suck.” 

“Uh, I know--” 

“You can  _ at least  _ tell me if you recognize my name,” Dustin interrupted _.  _ Dustin had his seatbelt on at least, so Billy elected to actually pay attention to what he was saying. He had bigger problems, like the Beatle that was  _ totally  _ trying to cut him off. 

“You expect me to know some random old dude out in Indiana?” BIlly raised as eyebrow. 

“ _ No,  _ I wanna know if I’m famous enough for even  _ you _ to have heard of me.” 

“What are you implying?” Billy narrowed his eyes, as if he were suspicious of the upcoming stop sign and not the moron beside him. 

“That you wouldn’t exactly be in the circles I excel in,” Dustin said, moving his hands as he spoke, as if to soften the blow. 

“Huh, well, I must not be, because I’ve never heard of you.” 

“Dustin  _ Henderson. _ You sure? Really sure?” 

“Extremely.” 

“Think on it for a second.” 

“And my confidence only grows.” 

“You’re a jerk.”

“Why, thank you.” 

Dustin sighed heavily through his lips and slumped back into his seat. “No hints? Zero?” 

Billy squinted out over the road, thinking, wondering if this little nerd was worth potentially ruining the future. 

Billy gave Dustin another sideways glance, taking in the dumb shirt, the cat hair on it, the  _ stupid  _ hat. 

“You ever heard of Samsung?” 

“No…? Maybe.” 

“You will.” 

Dustin’s entire face scrunched up, “That’s  _ it?  _ That’s so useless and cryptic, what even is it, I don’t get it, oh my god.” 

“All will make sense in time, young padawan.” 

“I’m  _ so  _ confused.” 

“Oh, I  _ know  _ you guys already have Star Wars.” 

“Uh, yes, it’s a cinematic masterpiece. What the hell is a padawan?” 

“The seeds of a CGI disaster being lain.” 

“You are an odd, odd person.”

“You’re the one in the discount Pokemon hat.” 

“ _ What?”  _ Dustin smacked a hand over his face. It looked like a coping mechanism. “I’m gonna turn on the radio and end this entire conversation.” 

Dustin reached forward and just  _ smacked  _ on the radio, like some  _ hooligan.  _ Billy actually gasped and he was lucky he didn’t  _ shriek.  _

“Watch the  _ merchandise,  _ kid,” Billy reached a protective hand over his poor, abused console. “This honey’s a  _ classic.”  _

“No it isn’t.” 

“It is in  _ 30 years!”  _

“You are so touchy.” 

“Everyone from my time is.” 

A silence grew between them and Billy was actually able to focus on what the radio was playing. It was Phil Collins. 

_ “Oh my god,”  _ Billy groaned, quickly turning to a new station. “Why’s he  _ everywhere?”  _

“You’re just upset its not Son of Man,” Max piped up from the back. 

“Hey! Tarzan was my childhood, watch it!” 

“Do you know what they’re talking about?” Lucas leaned over between the front seats.

“I have a theory: they’re not from the future. They are, in fact, aliens,” Dustin explained. 

_ “Aliens,”  _ Billy watched through the rearview mirror as Max held up her hands out in front of herself dramatically then giggled. 

“You are such a middle schooler,” Billy shook his head at her in disappointment. 

“I think you’re onto somethin’, Dustin.”

 

⏭⏮ 

 

The argumentative fun of the car didn’t last long, after Max had said  _ ‘First person shooters are the best, just you wait,’  _ all hell had broken loose for about 45 minutes. 

Something about dig-dug and Max groaning her head off and ranting about Breath of the Wild’s graphics. 

Also Spiderman? 

Lots about Spiderman, from both sides. Which Billy could get behind, Tom Holland was cute. If you  _ liked  _ soft hair and brown eyes. And nice shoulders. And a smile that just  _ dripped  _ boyish charm--he digressed.

Billy just ended up slumping into his seat further and further as they drove further and further from Hawkins. Occasionally Dustin would shout about some random town they passed through, and Lucas shouted map directions that didn’t make  _ any  _ sense. 

“I  _ think  _ this says Elmund. It’s right on the crease so I can’t tell.” 

“Then just  _ unfold  _ it.” 

“It’s been folded and unfolded so many times that the intersection is barely even  _ there!  _ Dustin, where did you get this map?” Lucas complained.

“My mom, and there are probably only two intersections for the next 200 miles around here, so it’s a 50/50 chance.” 

“At picking the right  _ intersection,”  _ Lucas snapped and pointed animatedly at the map to make his point more believable, not that Billy didn’t agree with him if only to disagree with Dustin. “But I have to figure out the right  _ turn  _ and I can’t find anything’s name, or can only make out half.” 

“I miss Google Earth,” Max groaned. “I miss the peeved robot lady shouting recalculating at us.” 

“Wait, you guys have  _ robot ladies!!”  _ Dustin shouted, the sound bounced and reverberated around the entire car, making it hard for Billy to decide if he wanted to turn the music down to heal his ears or  _ up  _ to drown the kid out. 

“I  _ knew  _ you guys would have robot ladies, what are they like? Do they have rights, do they have names, are they all ladies?” 

Up, he decided.

Through the rearview mirror Billy saw something truly terrifying, he saw Max  _ smile  _ all slow. 

It was like looking at a ginger version of himself, and it was terrifying. 

“Yeah, there are all different kinds,” Max said, slowly, intentionally. “Some of them have cool names, like Siri and Alexa.  _ Our  _ type is just called Google assistant, which is dumb and kinda creepy because you’re constantly reminded she’s like your minion. There’s another one… Billy what’s the other one called?” 

“Cortana?” 

“Cortana! Everyone forgets about her though, she like, hides in the corner of your house.” 

Dustin was swapping between scrunching up his face and looking at Max in complete  _ awe.  _

“What do they look like?” 

“Well, there are different versions, bigger ones and minis, and they’re not any of the Jetsons stuff you might be thinking of. But like, Alexa is black and she lights up with these blue lines, it’s pretty neat.” 

“Oh my fucking god, Max,” Billy couldn’t help it, he started laughing. “They’re not real robots, Dustin, they’re just AIs.” 

“ _ Just A.I.s?  _ Oh my god what!” 

 

⏭⏮

 

After crossing out of Indiana was when everyone started to get a bit antsy. 

It was as though they had run out of distracting conversations and now there was only one left. 

The big one. 

“So,” Billy started, turning down the radio a bit, only a bit, because David Bowie. “Your friend.” 

“I have more then one,” Dustin said, it sounded rehearsed. 

“The girl one, the magic Professor-X-y type,” 

“How do you know so much about comics?” Lucas cut in, “You just don’t seem like the… type.” 

“Well, good news for you nerds is that by the time you’re 40 your generation is  _ running the world  _ and the time of the geeks is neigh,” Billy explained, flexing his hands against the steering wheel as he spoke. “They’ve made movies about lots of superheros. It’s become mainstream and is shoved down everyone’s throats, no matter if you read comics or not. It all started with Iron Man.” 

“They have been 3 different Spidermans,” Max interjected.

“What?” 

“I didn’t really give a shit until they made Deadpool, but it’s alright,” Billy shrugged, “I mean? If you make Ryan Reynolds  _ not  _ hot and still manage to make a great movie? That’s fuckin’ skill.”  

“Who?” 

“Oh my god I  _ hate  _ this decade,” Billy groaned. “You guys don’t have  _ Deadpool  _ yet?” 

“Don’t blindly hate, Billy! Remember, this is also a world pre-Twilight,” Max reminded him, reaching between the front seats to pat his shoulder. 

“Oh my god  _ true,  _ and by default no 50 Shades of Gray!” 

“Exactly!” Max beamed. “See? Not so bad.” 

“I still feel trapped and wanna leave, though,” Billy said, looking out across the fields and… gross wilderness. 

“Good, because we want you gone,” said Lucas. 

“You think you’re a real charmer, don’t cha?” Billy snapped, twisting around in his seat for a moment. 

“Uh can you watch the  _ road!”  _ Dustin called out. There was a lot of shouting in this car. 

“Yeah, but, anyway, Telepath girl, what’s up with her?” Billy got himself back on track. These brats were so  _ distracting.  _

“She was raised in an evil government facility and can kill people with her mind,” Lucas said flatly. 

“Noted, and how’s she supposed to help Max and I?” 

“We can’t really  _ explain it,”  _ Dustin waved his hands as if  _ that  _ would make this apparently unexplainable thing wholly explainable. “She’s good at finding stuff with her mind. Like, seeing where people are. And maybe she can also do that with time? We’re really not sure, but we’re also your only option.” 

“That sounds like very lazy writing.”

“Yes, yes it does,” Dustin nodded solemnly. 

 

⏭⏮

 

Once they hit Missouri was when things got tedious. It was leaning towards nightfall and everyone was complaining about wanting to eat. 

“We’re not that far now guys, how about we eat when Max and I  _ aren’t  _ fucking with the entire timeline?” Billy tried.

“I doubt you have that much of an impact,” Lucas huffed. 

“You’re also excluding the possibility that your presence was already factored  _ into  _ the timeline, so you’re completing a part of history you just didn’t know you’d be a part of yet,” Dustin said. 

Billy would’ve taken him entirely seriously, but the kid had just spent 20 minutes yelling at Max about joystick control sensitivity and couldn’t figure out why she was laughing. So Billy only had so much faith. 

“What the hell.” Billy said those words and there was a  _ ‘what,’  _ but it certainly wasn’t a question. 

Dustin scoffed. “It’s called  _ Destiny.”  _

“That sounds very lame.”

“You are such a pessimist.” 

“Okay. We can eat, one of you call Steve and we’ll see where to stop,” Billy said. “Or you can just, like, give me his number--” 

“He doesn’t have a  _ cell phone,”  _ Lucas said, and Billy could  _ hear  _ him rolling his eyes, the prick. 

“Oh wait!” Dustin said, twisting around in his seat and reaching his hands out animatedly toward Lucas. “Look in my bag I bought a radio--gimmie--!” 

“Sweet!” Lucas said, then Billy heard some grunts and lots of crinkling as Lucas disappeared behind the driver's seat. “Why are there so many  _ pretzels?”  _

“Carbohydrates!” Dustin defended, still reaching out towards the backseat ala  _ Creation of Adam. _

“It must be under  _ everything,”  _ Lucas said, Max was laughing beside him. “If you even remembered to pack it.” 

“I  _ did  _ pack it,” Dustin said. “And it’s not like you remembered  _ yours,  _ dipshit.” 

Billy chuckled, this whole debacle was almost like going to the zoo, seeing uber nerds in their natural habitat. 

“Found it!” Lucas said, holding it up as far as the Camaro’s roof would let him, taking in a giant gasp of air as if he’d dived under water to retrieve it. 

“ _ Told  _ you,” Dustin griped, quickly snatching it out of Lucas’ hands. “Now, we might have to slow down if Steve’s too far behind us so that we’re in range.” 

“I have zero problem with him getting up-close and personal.” 

“Not at all what I meant.” 

“Doesn’t make it untrue.” 

“2018 sounds like a strange time.” 

“Oh it’s a doozy, people call it  _ Twenty-Gay-Teen,  _ it’s nirvana.” 

“Subtracting Trump.” Max cut in, leaning between the seats.

“Obviously.” 

“What?” 

_ “Spoilers.”  _

_ “What?”  _

“Dustin, stop listening to him and just hope Mike remembered his radio.”

“Okay, okay, sorry for wanting to get the  _ ultimate edge  _ and learn about the future.” Dustin dramatically raspberried before holding the gigantic walkie talkie up to his face, whipping out the antenna with a  _ flourish.  _

He messed with some buttons and turned a knob, it fascinated Billy, and he had to make sure his eyes stayed on the road as static started to come out of the device. 

“Come in Mike. Hello? Come in, Will, El, Steve--or, not Steve because Steve is driving. Come in preferably Mike, El, or Will, but not necessarily in that order, none of you are my favorite or anything. Actually that’s a lie, El is my favorite, over.” 

There was more static. 

“I think they’re too far away--” 

_ “Hello? Over,”  _ came a voice that wasn’t high enough to be Mike’s. 

“El!” Dustin cheered, “Awesome, tell Steve we’re gonna pull over to eat soon, over.” 

There was silence broken up by tiny bits of static. 

“ _ He asks where we eat in the middle of nowhere _ ,” El said. “Over.” 

“Uhhhh, that’s a really good question, over,” Dustin, for whatever reason, turned to not only look at but  _ speak to  _ Billy. “Where are we eating?” 

“Preferably, I’m gonna have my next meal in 2018. I don’t give a fuck what you guys are doing.” 

“You’ll starve.” 

“That’s a weak joke.” 

“Tell that to your muscles when the rest of your body starts to eat them.” 

“You are all such  _ freaky  _ children,” Billy exclaimed, looking at Dustin, a touch horrified. 

“Billy,  _ stop!”  _ Max called out suddenly. 

Billy, at her urgency,  _ slammed  _ on the breaks, causing Dustin to screech louder then the tires. 

“Jesus CHRIST!” Dustin gasped out. Lucas groaned from the back seat. “Who let you have a license?”  

“It  _ better  _ be important,” Billy said as he whipped his head around to glare at Max. 

She looked like a deer in the headlights. “Uh, that’s the field,” she said, pointing to her left. 

Billy turned back around. If he squinted he saw that it  _ did  _ in fact look like the field. 

If only because it was, in fact, a  _ field.  _ Not too many discerning qualities there. 

“Alright, out,” Billy said. 

“Aren’t you gonna pull over?” Lucas asked, like a  _ smartass.  _

Billy rolled his eyes, “Yes, I am, but now I want you out  _ more.”  _

They scrambled. It was a very satisfying thing to watch. The moment Dustin shut the door, Billy made quick work of pulling off to the side. 

He stepped out of the car, for the first time really looking around. It was just as back-woods as it had been hours ago when he’d left. Only now it was darker. 

“THIS IS IT! TIRE MARKS!” Max called out from where she was, already halfway across the field. Dustin and Lucas were not nearly that far, but looked like they were trying to catch up. 

“Get out the P.K.E. Meter!” Dustin shouted. 

“Why am I trapped in this hell,” Billy muttered to himself, then looked back out at the road. 

He could see Steve’s Beemer approaching. They were close, but far enough to give Billy time to stroll out into the middle of the otherwise deserted road. 

In the center of his lane, Billy dramatically held out his left hand in a  _ ‘stop’  _ motion. 

The car came to a slow stop about five feet away from him, Billy smirked when he saw Steve’s unamused face through the windshield. 

“There’s a toll, pretty boy,” Billy said with a bright smile. 

He saw Steve roll his eyes. 

He was so much  _ fun  _ to mess with. 

Billy followed the car as it pulled off to the side, walking around so that he was right by Steve’s door before the ignition was even off.

Steve’s door clicked and Billy jumped to yank it open. 

_ “Asshole,”  _ Steve snapped as he half-fell out the door, his arm getting tugged. 

“Just tryna be of assistance,” Billy said sweetly. He crossed his arms over the top of the window, just looking at Steve. 

Because Steve was still pretty. Because Steve was still in shorts, even if they weren’t part of the rest of the anime-y ice cream parlor ensemble. 

“So this is it?” Steve asked, he rolled his shoulders back as he looked out across the field. “Doesn’t look like much.” 

“Hawkins is one microscopic, vanilla dot on the map and shit hit the fan there,” Billy argued, only not in an argumentative way, just a  _ he was having a conversation with Steve, awesome  _ way. 

“This is the place,” El _ \--Whoa holy shit there there’s El,  _ Billy jumped when he noticed the child suddenly standing beside him--said. 

“Thanks for the confirmation,” Billy said as he watched the girl walk off with Skinny and Minnie into the field with the other children. There was Dustin jumping around with something that was making some artificial ticking sound and Lucas had an actual magnifying glass. 

“I’m never going home,” Billy said resolutely. “Not if my future is in the hands of these dipshits.” 

“They’re surprisingly innovative,” Steve said before walking off. 

“Says you,” Billy griped, pushing himself up off the door to follow Steve. 

Following Steve was a fun thing to do, that’s all Billy was gonna say on that matter. 

That was a total lie, he would totally admit to staring at Steve’s ass and that being 100% the reason why following behind Steve was a  _ good experience.  _

“This place is a smorgasbord of freaky!” Dustin said, holding up what legitimately looked like an electric razor with little glowy-bits sticking out of the top. 

“Yeah, and El and I were talking in the car and we have an idea,” Mike said. “We just need Max’s… phone,” he said phone like he still didn’t believe it was actually a phone. Billy figured it’d be a lot like if someone handed him a paperweight and told him that in 30 years the human race had renamed said paperweight to a ‘cat,’ so Billy felt for him.

Max quickly pulled her phone out of her pocket and handed it to El, who looked at it curiously before figuring out she could click the home button. 

“It’s locked,” she said simply. 

“Oh! Here,” Max snatched it back. “All it needs is my fingerprint.” 

_ “WHAT?”  _ Dustin gasped. All the other boys looked equally awed. “I can’t  _ wait  _ for the future! All of you have spy gear.” 

That made Billy feel a bit smug. 

“Remember,” Steve said to the group at large. “We’ve gotta wrap this up or I’m a dead man.” 

“Steve, we’re about to invent time travel. The bounds of time will have  _ zero  _ effect on us. We will finally know true freedom!” Dustin exclaimed, waving his little light-up electric trimmer around. 

“Hop will  _ actual  _ lock me in Prison,” Steve argued, pointing at himself. “Not  _ you  _ little shits. Me. So hurry the hell up.” 

El snorted out a laugh at Steve’s outburst. Then everyone watched as El tapped away at the phone screen, her face looked eery, underlit by the blue tones while the sunset was just beginning. 

Her eyes closed and Billy didn’t know what was happening, but he could feel the people around him holding their breath, waiting. El’s eyebrows scrunched. Max took a step closer, but Lucas stopped her with an arm across her chest. 

Then, blasting out of Max’s tiny phone speakers was  _ jazz _ . Loud and blaring, certainly not your elevator music variety. The type of fast paced, loud stuff you’d imagine more acrobatic dancing.  _ Grease _ type stuff, Travolta launching over cars, the whole shabang. 

The entire party jumped at the sound and El make a point to scrunch her eyes further. The smallest bit of blood dripped from her nose.

The music shorted out a bit, stopping and starting repeatedly. 

The phone started  _ ringing  _ and more blood trickled down from El’s nose. 

It kept ringing, and ringing Billy watched as Max slipped out from around Lucas’ arm to finally reach out and tap the  _ Accept  _ button. 

And the absolute worst sound that could have ever emanated from that phone came out of those shitty little speakers. The most horrid, nightmare inducing sound by a long shot. 

A little girl giggling. 

“Hehe..mf..heh…” 

It was a haunting sound. 

“Hello?” El asked, the line of blood from her nose halfway to her lip. “You’re far away--Hello?” Her head swiveled back and forth, her eyebrows crinkling into an even harsher line. “Where are you? Where--?” 

The laughing cut off and the jazz started up again. 

The light on El’s face blinked on and off, the music got louder and quieter. 

“Guys…” Will said, the biggest grimace on his face. “Is that what you saw last time?” he asked, pointing at yet another portal. 

It was a few feet behind Dustin, making the distant treeline dance as it distorted the air. It hung like a vertical puddle, and made Billy’s brain hurt to look at it for too long. 

“That’s the one,” Max said, sounding a bit breathless. 

“Okay, cool, work done,” Steve said, clapping Billy on the shoulder. “Good job team, and by team, I mean El. Time to pack up.” 

“Wait!” Dustin said. He was facing the portal, made into a silhouette by the rapidly setting sun. “You mean we’re not  _ going?”  _

“Why on  _ Earth  _ would we walk through a time portal?” Steve shouted back at him. 

“To see the future!” Lucas chimed in, marching up beside Dustin. “Just for a second, Steve.” 

“Yeah, we drove for  _ 3 hours,”  _ Mike joined in. “Just to  _ not  _ travel through time? That’s bull.” 

“You seem to be losing control of this situation, Steve,” Billy commented, causing Steve to glare at him. 

“We are  _ not  _ galavanting through time. I won’t be responsible for any dumbassery through the decades!” Steve wagged his finger at the group of teens. 

“Laaaaame!” Dustin whined. 

All the children started to gather around the portal. Max stepped out in front of them and Billy jogged to catch up. Steve was a step behind him, shouting about ‘ _ Rotten kids’  _ but fell silent at what happened next. 

The portal  _ moved.  _ It rushed forward like some curtain being yanked forward, rippling more violently. The kids screamed as it skidded towards them. 

Only a few feet away the kids got swept into the portal, it all looked very Stargate when they entered, disrupting the seemingly liquid pool. It wasn’t insanely fake CGI, though. It was  _ too _ real and Billy could admit that he screamed as it rushed forward towards him and Steve. 

Lucas tripped over his own feet as he tried to run away. Dustin and Will stood frozen. Mike was yelling. El had her hand sted-fast in front of her, for reasons Billy didn’t have time to comprehend. 

“Billy--!” Max screeched, but it was cut off and she disappeared. 

On complete instinct, in the half a second before the portal got the two of them, Billy basically jumped at Steve, grabbing his arm and yelling “HOLY SHIT!!” 

“JESUS FUCKING--!” Steve clutched back at him and then it--

  


 

“CHRIST!” Steve shouted, his free arm grabbing Billy’s chest, meanwhile, Billy was twisted up like a python around Steve’s arm, leg hiked up a bit on the other guy. 

They stood there, frozen, in the morning light. 

Surrounded by teenage brats. 

And cows. 

“Are you guys okay?” Max asked, looking at them as if their reactions were anything beyond the average,  _ sane  _ reaction one would have in response to being  _ eaten  _ by a time portal. 

There was jostling and mooing all around them. Besides idle chatter, everyone was very still. Because there were cows who were  _ just  _ as confused as they were. 

“ _ No,”  _ Steve said, letting go of Billy’s shirt. He’d actually stretched it a bit, he’d been holding on so tight. “This was  _ not  _ the plan. Creepy child laughter and moving time portals was  _ not the plan.”  _

“There weren’t cows here in 2018,” Billy said, slowly letting go of Steve’s arm. “This isn’t 2018.” 

“OH no,” Steve said. “This isn’t your time? This is just some  _ random  _ time period? What the  _ hell--”  _

“This is AWESOME!” Dustin shouted, which freaked out some of the cows. One jostled its head around. “Oh, oh no, good, good gigantic doggy. That isn’t at all a doggy.” 

Said cow seemed miraculously calmed. 

“I’m losing my mind,” Steve continued to lament. “We traveled through  _ time,  _ Hop is going to  _ murder me  _ and  _ no one  _ will find my body. Not a  _ soul--”  _

“Calm down,” El said flatly, which shut Steve up pretty quickly. “We need to think.” 

“Awesome, thinking, how innovative,” Billy griped, looking out over the field. 

“WHAT THE--” a distant voice suddenly come from behind Billy, the sound of a car door slamming shut “HEY! YOU KIDS!!” Billy spun his head around to see the road and the  _ cop car  _ pulled off to the side of it. Oh fuck. “HEY KIDS!! What are you doing out there!” 

“Oh no,” Lucas said. “We need to run.” 

“If we just talk to the nice officer--” Dustin started. 

“THIS IS TRESPASSING!” the guy started yelling, and running as much as he could with the multiple spare tires he was lugging around with him. 

“Oh  _ shit!”  _ Mike said and started running first.

Dodging cows and racing for the trees was  _ not  _ how he saw his day going. Especially when he didn’t even know what  _ year  _ it was. 

Not stepping in cow shit turned out to be the biggest obstacle. Billy refused to let that be the cherry on this already shitty day. Legitimate shit was not the vibe he wanted in his life right now. 

It was easy to lose the cop, even for Dustin, who panted and heaved and bitched the entire way to the small patch of trees at the opposite end of the field. There was a worn looking wooden fence that hadn’t been there in the 80’s and Billy didn’t remember running it over in 2018. It was an easy thing to hop over and basically fall into the trees, behind a fallen log and not giving a shit about the leaves that were  _ totally  _ in his hair. 

“What the  _ fuck,”  _ Billy puffed out when Max flopped down beside him, leaning against the old, probably wet and gross log. It was covered in moss. Birds and squirrels started having a shit fit as the rest of the gang clambered into the woods. 

“I don’t know,” Max said, holding a hand to her temple, her chest was heaving. “But I already hate it. We don’t have a car, and we’re  _ stuck  _ out here because of some creep-o… some…” 

“Demonic Gizmo?” Lucas filled in. He was laid out on his stomach a few feet away. 

“ _ Yes,”  _ Max said, raising one tired finger to point at the boy.  _ “Demonic _ Gizmo, thank you. Wait, isn’t that just a gremlin?”

“Gremlins had more evil laughs.” 

“True.”  

“We need to find out what year it is,” MIke said. He was crouched behind a stump beside El, they were both creeping over the top of it to keep watch or something. There was no way that cop didn’t give up after five steps, though. None. 

“Thanks, captain obvious,” Dustin grumbled. “Well, based on the car it’s obviously somewhere post-1940.” 

“Could it be the future?” Will asked. Then everyone turned to look at Max and Billy. 

“I’m tired, so lower your expectations more than usual,” was Billy’s only reply to their patient gazes. 

“Ugh,  _ fine,  _ I’ll look,” Max theatrically groaned as she turned around to look over her fallen log, squinting out across the field. “That’s not a modern car, so it’s in  _ our  _ past at least.” 

“Okay, so 1940 to…” 

“That’s a 1954 Ford Customline, **”** Steve said. He was the only person who was truly upright, and he was leaning against a thinner tree, glaring at the car, his hair flopped over his eyes a bit, a tad sweaty. “Looks pretty new, and for a car that’s used for civil service, it gets beat on pretty often. So I’d say late 50’s, max.” 

“That sounds reasonable,” Billy said casually, as if car talk wasn’t one of his top 5 turn-ons. 

 

⏭⏮

 

After waiting for the cop to drive away, which did not take long in the slightest, the party, along with Billy and Max crept out of the trees. This time, they walked along the fence of the cow pasture out to the road. The long, barren road. The only positive point to that was the fact that it was easy to see the blip of a town further down the street. 

Billy brush yet another bit of mulch off his person as they walked. It was annoying. 

Ionia Missouri wasn’t much to write home about, even Billy could spot that from a mile or so away. The walk wasn’t terrible, if it weren’t for the bratty children having all these  _ opinions  _ and constantly  _ sharing them.  _

“So we need to lay low,” Steve explained to the group at they walked. He was out in front, Billy beside him--if only for the sake of being beside Steve, with the kids trailing like ducks behind them. 

Or, except for Max, who’d occasionally walk out  _ into  _ the road like some vagabond before scurrying back. 

“No… talking to anyone, we just need to sit down and  _ think,”  _ Steve continued. 

“De-stress,” Billy agreed. “Take a breather.”  

“ _ Exactly,”  _ Steve said, sagging a bit with emotion, running a hand through his hair. He was so pretty, what the hell. Why’d he have to be 40 in 2018? 

Maybe he aged well, Billy started to muse,  _ Just go a little gray, he’d still be tall, vain enough to stay in shape-- _

Billy needed to fucking stop with whatever was going through his brain. 

Steve would probably get married and have kids  _ long  _ before 2018. 

_ And maybe have an ‘Oh shit I’m gay’ mid life crisis, _ Billy’s brain whispered. Like a dick. Because Billy was thinking with his dick, so that made sense. He needed to stop doing that, pronto. 

“We should know what exact year it is,” Dustin said. “That would help.” 

“So step 1, find a calendar,” Max said from where she was kicking rocks into the road like a heathen. Lucas was kicking rocks with her, the idiocy was spreading. 

Billy had to physically stop himself from nudging the especially large piece of gravel at his feet as he walked. It took great willpower, he was almost proud of himself. 

“There’s gotta be a drug store up there,” Billy said. “We hop in, buy 2 cent milkshakes or whatever the fuck, then Miss Mental-whatever calls back the creepy child who put us here.” 

“Is my phone still working?” Max asked El. El’s eyes widened in remembrance as she reached for the phone in the pocket of her baggy jeans. 

“Yes,” she mumbled as she clicked it on, then handed it back to Max.

“Oh  _ no,”  _ Max said, suddenly walking faster, past Billy and Steve. 

“What?” 

“I have 23%,” she said, glaring at Billy over her shoulder.

“Oh  _ no,”  _ Billy said, jogging for a second to catch up. “We’ve gotta hope there’s a spare outlet somewhere, please tell me you have a charger.” 

Max then went through the tribal, bend every part of your body and twist in random directions-- _ find your charger  _ dance. 

“Yes!” She pulled it out of her kangaroo pocket, Billy wanted to kiss that stupid white cord. 

“What are they doing?” Lucas fake whispered behind them. 

“Some strange ritual?” Will responded. Then they all giggled. 

Billy whipped his head over his shoulder to glare at them, but it was half hearted, because there was Steve. Smiling. 

Well, shit. 

 

⏭⏮

 

There was, indeed, a drugstore in town. And a gas station, and a hardware store, and a town hall. 

And that was  _ it.  _ Nothing else other than some spread out houses. It looked as if there were only 12 people in the entire town. Which Billy wouldn’t doubt for a second if it was true. 

A bell chimed when Steve pushed the door to the Drug Store-- _ Danny’s Pharmacy  _ it was called--and all the kids lined up along the counter. 

This time, because they weren’t being interrogated, Billy made sure to slide up next to McMullet at the counter. 

Together, the group almost took up the entire counter. Billy stuck on the end, with Steve then going on from Dustin, Lucas, Max, Will, El, then Mike. 

He didn’t really mind anything. Afterall, he was sitting next to Steve. 

Billy looked up at the chalkboard menu and promptly choked on his own spit. Milkshakes were  _ actually  _ 10 cents! No joke! Man, o  _ man  _ was inflation a bitch. Billy watched as Steve’s eyes bugged out too. 

“I think I love this place,” Steve said, pulling out his wallet. “I bet Camels are a steal, too.” 

“You’d cry if you saw what they cost in 2018,” Billy remarked. 

Steve chuckled. “I’ll bet. What else would surprise me about your time?” 

“It’s yours too, eventually,” Billy turned in his seat, resting his feet on Steve’s foot rest. “You won’t be dead by then, still have some years left in you.” 

Steve only shrugged. 

“There are some surprising things, though. I heard the 90’s were a lot of fun,” Billy commented, “You’ll get to live through a tech revolution and watch the world get swallowed by FaceBook.” 

“FaceBook?” Steve curled his lip up at that, “What kind of a name is that?” 

“One that holds an infinite amount of power by the mid-2000s.” 

“That’s terrifying.”    
“Do we have any more  wars? Like, big ones?” Steve asked. 

Billy paused before he answered. Joking about social media (no matter how genuinely powerful) was one thing, but this was another. One that had to come with lots of traumatic backstory, and this was getting far too deep too fast what the fuck--

“HI!” 

Billy jumped out of his  _ damn skin  _ when someone shouted behind him in a far too perky and welcoming manner. 

Billy swiveled in his seat, wide-eyed to see what was, by far, the nerdiest human being he’d ever seen. 

He was tall in a gangly way, easily had a few inches on Billy. He had a mop of curly dark hair on his head and wire-framed coke bottle glasses taking up most of his face. In a short-sleeved blue button down and tweed pants that just  _ kept  _ going up it was a lot to take in. He also had a notepad in hand and a clump of pens in his shirt pocket. 

“Hi, I’m Murray,” he said, making himself at home and leaning on the counter, on the business side of the counter. 

“Do you… work here?” Billy asked slowly. 

“No,” this Murray said, “But you’ll still wanna talk to me,” he grinned, this big, toothy smile. “You and your buddies were running around Barrett's cow pasture earlier, right?” he leaned forward, as if that was supposed to be a secret, and dramatically  _ smacked  _ his notepad down onto the countertop. 

“Where  _ is  _ the person who works here?” Steve asked, leaning back away from this strange guy. Or kid, even. He didn’t look more then 16. 

“On break,” Murray said, which wasn’t ominous at all. “So, you got caught by one of the patrols, huh?” he continued. 

Billy nodded. Meanwhile Steve, who apparently had his brain switched on asked, “There are patrols on a  _ cow  _ pasture?” 

Murray cocked an eyebrow at Steve as if he were an idiot. Which, rude, Steve was a pretty idiot, credit where it was due. 

“The disappearances,” Murray said slowly, which seemed to ruffle Steve’s feathers. 

“Disappearances?” Billy leaned forward, resting his elbow on the counter. Now,  _ that  _ was intriguing. Maybe there was method in this time-travel madness. 

“The  _ cows,”  _ Murray rolled his eyes at them. 

Never mind. 

“The cows.” Billy said flatly. “I’m sorry, where’s someone who can get me a 20 cent burger?” 

“I  _ know  _ you’re interested, because I saw you high-tail it outta that pasture,” Murray seemed to be getting annoyed now. “I haven’t been able to slip in there yet in daylight, but I just  _ know  _ there’s something bizarre happening.” 

“They’re… cows,” Steve said slowly. “Maybe they ran away.” 

“Now here’s the  _ thing _ ,” Murray said adamantly, pushing his glasses up his nose, “This is the  _ eighth  _ cow to go missing. One, sounds like a prank. Two? Dumb luck. But once you get past  _ five  _ and the cops are thinking it’s some seedy beef-trafficking ring.” 

Billy nodded, as if he knew what this guy was talking about. 

“Now,” Murray flipped open his notepad, uncapping a pen with his teeth, before popping it out of his mouth. “See anything  _ strange  _ in that field?” 

  
  
  
 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Murray feat. Hair
> 
> Breaking down the laws of the universe, I know
> 
> ~zeep


End file.
